Pascalide

Pascalide is a fictional mineral term used in science fiction and educational materials to illustrate high-pressure mineralogy. It serves as a hypothetical silicate that can form and transform under extreme pressures, helping readers and students explore concepts of crystallography and phase transitions without referring to a real specimen.

In common fictional depictions, Pascalide is described as having a dense, blue-gray appearance with a layered crystal structure. Reported properties include a Mohs hardness around 5.5–6, a density near 3.2 g/cm3, and anisotropic optical behavior with a refractive index around 1.70–1.80. Its stability is often portrayed as high under metamorphic conditions and pressures exceeding a few gigapascals, though exact ranges vary by author.

Pascalide does not correspond to a verified mineral or chemical compound in peer-reviewed geology or chemistry literature. It appears in novels, game materials, and teaching resources to demonstrate how data about minerals might be interpreted, including crystallography, refractive properties, and pressure-induced transformations. Because it is not based on observed mineral samples, references to Pascalide should be treated as fictional constructs unless a specific work identifies otherwise.

Origin of the name is typically linked to the unit of pressure, the pascal, together with the common mineral-name suffix -ide, selections that emphasize the theme of pressure in the material’s fictional profile.