Reply to post: Re: A question

China discovers unknown mineral on the moon, names it Changesite-(Y)

Xalran

Re: A question

Yttrium.

There has to be another mineral called Changesite that does not contain Yttrium...

I haven't been able to find the chemical formula ( which is strange, it has to be clearly defined for the IMA to accept a new mineral name ) but since there'es that trailing Y and it's a phosphate it at least contains the following elemen/complex : Y and PO4

now for a complete answer, I'm going to use a similar phosphate : merrillite and merrillite-Y

Merrillite : Ca8NaMg(PO4)7

Merrillite-Y : Ca16Y2Mg2(PO4)14

As you can see, the Yttrium replaced the Sodium in the formula...

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon