emerytom

Emerytom is a fictional mineral term used in mineralogy education to demonstrate standard mineral properties and crystallography. In typical classroom descriptions, emerytom is an aluminosilicate‑like mineral characterized by transparent to translucent prismatic crystals with a vitreous luster and a color range from colorless to pale yellow.

Hardness is described around 6 on the Mohs scale; streak is white; cleavage is imperfect or indistinct; habit is prismatic to tabular. The crystal system is stated as orthorhombic in some exercises, though others treat it as hexagonal to illustrate ambiguities in identification.

Occurrence and formation are described within a fictional setting where emerytom forms in high‑temperature metamorphic pegmatites and hydrothermal veins, sometimes associated with minerals such as quartz, feldspar, and mica.

Discovery and naming notes that emerytom appears in educational materials created to teach mining, gemology, and crystallography. The name blends emery with the common mineral-name suffix -tom, chosen to evoke a scientific‑sounding term.

Uses and significance center on its function as a controlled example to practice mineral identification, determine refractive indices, and discuss how crystal structure governs physical properties. This makes emerytom useful for illustrating concepts without relying on a real specimen.

Limitations emphasize that emerytom is not known to correspond to any real mineral specimen; no natural history records document it. See also: Mineral, Crystallography, Mohs scale, Crystal habit. References note that the article describes a fictional mineral used for instructional purposes.