Barite is a common mineral and makes very attractive specimens. Barytes often act as an accessory mineral to other minerals and can make a nice backdrop to brightly colored crystals. At times bladed or tabular crystals of Barytes form a concentric pattern of increasingly larger crystals outward. Barytes can be used in paints, oil drilling, as filer in plastic, paper, leather, textile, and rubber. Physical Characteristics

• Color is variable but is commonly found colorless or white, also blue, green, yellow and red shades
• Luster is vitreous
• Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent
• Crystal System is orthorhombic; 2/m 2/m 2/m
• Crystal habits include the bladed crystals that are dominated by two large pinacoid faces top and bottom and small prism faces forming a jutting angle on every side. There are many variations of these faces but the flattened blades and tabular crystals are the most common. If the pinacoid faces become diminished or are absent, the resulting prismatic crystal has a rhombic cross section. Also scaly, lamellar, and even fiberous
• Cleavage is perfect in one direction, less so in another direction
• Fracture is conchoidal
• Hardness is 3 - 3.5
• Specific gravity is approximately 4.5 (heavy for translucent minerals)
• Streak is white

Barite is a common mineral and makes very attractive specimens. Barytes often act as an accessory mineral to other minerals and can make a nice backdrop to brightly colored crystals. At times bladed or tabular crystals of Barytes form a concentric pattern of increasingly larger crystals outward. Barytes can be used in paints, oil drilling, as filer in plastic, paper, leather, textile, and rubber. Physical Characteristics

• Color is variable but is commonly found colorless or white, also blue, green, yellow and red shades
• Luster is vitreous
• Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent
• Crystal System is orthorhombic; 2/m 2/m 2/m
• Crystal habits include the bladed crystals that are dominated by two large pinacoid faces top and bottom and small prism faces forming a jutting angle on every side. There are many variations of these faces but the flattened blades and tabular crystals are the most common. If the pinacoid faces become diminished or are absent, the resulting prismatic crystal has a rhombic cross section. Also scaly, lamellar, and even fiberous
• Cleavage is perfect in one direction, less so in another direction
• Fracture is conchoidal
• Hardness is 3 - 3.5
• Specific gravity is approximately 4.5 (heavy for translucent minerals)
• Streak is white