This stunning cubic, lavender purple fluorite on quartz matrix hails from Chihuahua, Mexico.
Pure fluorite is transparent, but impurities generally make it a colorful mineral. It can come in all different colors--the most common being purples, greens, blues and colorless.
A physicist in 1852 coined the term fluorescence from fluorite because like this specimen, many samples of fluorite emit this extraordinary electromagnetic radiation as visible light.
Fluoride, which is a chemical found in toothpaste, is made from and named after fluorite.
