Observations on Density and Refractive Index of Minerals

Nikola Viazmenski

Research Question
Is there a relationship between the density of a mineral and its refractive index?
Introduction
I always loved minerals as a little kid. I always wanted to go to the Museum of Natural
History in New York, and whenever I went, I would spend an inordinate amount of time at
the mineral exhibits. And, when we went to the museum shop, I would always want to buy all
of the books on minerals, so I could go out and find a couple of my own (which I did)! When
it came time to discuss refractive indices in my physics class, I realized and began to wonder
if there was a relation between the density of a material and its refractive index. I did some
Googling and found an increase in both density and refractive index between two commonly
referenced materials - glass and diamond. I began to think about what materials I could use to
see if this relationship was just one of coincidence between two materials or if there was a
genuine relationship between these two properties. After some thought, I figured, for
uniformly dense materials, what better than gemstones! They're easily sourced from many
online websites (unlike blocks/units of other materials), and there are specific tools that are
used to determine the refractive indices of gemstones, because refractive index is an
often-used method of verifying the authenticity of precious minerals and stones.
I had done some research pertaining to refractive indices in solids, and happened upon a
journal article from 1965 that found that a linear relationship between density of a mineral
and its refractive index held for "minerals whose anion is oxygen and whose mean molecular
weight is close to 21." The paper then went on to describe a law applied to mineralogy
surrounding the relationship between refractive index and density of a mineral, known as the
Gladstone-Dale law. The Gladstone-Dale law states that a constant (which the paper did not
specify, much to my annoyance) is derived from dividing the refractive index minus one by
the density of the mineral in question. In order to see how well a relationship between density
and refractive index holds for other minerals, I selected several minerals based exclusively on
specific gravity - the measure of a mineral’s density relative to water, which has a reference
SG of 1.
The main tool I used is a gemological device called a ​refractometer.​ A refractometer accepts
light from a light source into a glass semicylinder, before being refracted up into the stone
being studied. The stone being studied is installed by placing a drop of oil (that has a constant
refractive index) onto a metal plate that surrounds a small, exposed part of the semicylinder.
The stone is then placed on the oil and carefully slid on to the exposed glass. This oil
prevents air from re-bending the light before hitting the stone, hence creating an
uninterrupted beam of light that goes through the stone. After going through the stone, the
bent light is reflected onto a meter, which gives the refractive index of the stone.
Experimental safety
There is one major area of concern with regards to safety. The oil used with the refractometer
is harmful to ingest, and as such must be used carefully. Safety precautions surrounding the
oil do not go beyond the realm of common sense - I wore gloves while making the
observations, and washed my hands after completing the experimental portion of the
investigation.

Variables
Independent variable: Density of stones
Dependent variable: Refractive index of stones
Controlled variables: Clarity of stones (all stones selected were of VVS gemological grade or
higher, in order to prevent inclusions from interfering with the path of the light in the
refractometer.)

Materials
Gemological refractometer
3V button cell battery
Refractometer oil (n=1.81)
Mineral samples (halite, quartz, calcite, pyrope garnet, peridot, kyanite, tourmaline)

Procedure
1. Install battery in refractometer and verify function of device.
2. Open the top portion of the refractometer, and place 1-3 drops of refractometer oil
onto the metal portion surrounding the glass semicylinder.
3. Place the mineral sample on top of the oil droplet.
4. Carefully, and without applying any pressure on the top of the stone, slide the stone
onto the glass semicylinder. This must be done slowly; the glass is very easily
scratched.
5. Close the top portion of the refractometer, turn light source on, and look through
aperture of refractometer. Green line indicates reading.
6. Record reading, and repeat with other stones.
Data gathered
Stone Density Refractive index

Halite 2.1g/cm^3 1.54 ± 0.01

Quartz 2.6g/cm^3 1.55 ± 0.01

Calcite 2.7g/cm^3 1.57 ± 0.01

Tourmaline 3.1g/cm^3 1.65 ± 0.01

Peridot 3.3g/cm^3 1.67 ± 0.01

Kyanite 3.6g/cm^3 1.63 ± 0.01

Pyrope garnet 3.7g/cm^3 1.74 ± 0.01

Data processing

Line of best fit: y=0.1110x+1.287

Correlation constant: r = 0.8834
Conclusion
The data clearly displays a strongly positive correlation between the density and refractive
index of the minerals studied. However, I am not entirely led to believe that density is the
end-all-be-all determinant of refractive index. For additional understand, I have turned to
crystallography. Refraction by definition occurs because light slows down when in a
non-vacuum medium. Thus, it may not just be the density as a function of mass that comes
into play when determining the refractive index of minerals, but the crystal structure as well.
Examining the extreme examples of halite and garnet, it can be surmised that garnet’s higher
refractive index can be attributed to the less uniform nature of the crystal structure as opposed
to that of halite. Through halite, photons have fewer paths to take before exiting the stone,
compared to garnet - hence, the photons generally leave the stone faster and are refracted less.

Garnet and halite crystal structures. Garnet image courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University.
(Note: the halite image does not show all of the polyhedra that comprise halite’s crystal
structure - it is in reality a densely and regularly packed structure of the polyhedra.)

There was one anomalous result that most significantly strayed from the trendline - kyanite
exhibited an unexpectedly low refractive index for its density. Doing research into its crystal
structure, I found that kyanite’s structure actually is comprised of ‘staircases’ that have
almost entirely open spaces between them. Light probably passes through these open spaces
and accelerates before being re-refracted when it enters another staircase. Once the light has
exited the stone, however, the net effect is an unexpectedly low refractive index.

Kyanite crystal structure. In the above image, yellow octahedra comprise the staircase, and
blue octahedra are “linking octahedra.”
The experiment could be expanded upon and improved by analyzing a larger amount of
minerals - more data means that a more accurate correlation and thus a more accurate
relationship can be observed and described. Another interesting expansion of the experiment
would be to analyze minerals of different classes (silicates, sulfates, borates, etc.) and similar
density to ascertain whether the chemical composition of the mineral influences the refractive
index. The density result could be further confirmed or denied by the inverse of the above
experiment - that is, one class and varying density.

Errors in observation
Error crops up in the investigation due to the refractometer’s green line having a non-zero
width. The refractometer indicates the refractive index of the sample being tested by
projecting the green line onto a graduated plate. However, the green line has a non-zero
width, and as such the refractive index cannot be declared with absolute accuracy. The width
intersects between graduations of 0.01, and as such there is an error in the measurement of
the refractive index. The experiment can be improved here by the usage of a digital
refractometer; while they are more expensive, the error is within 0.001.

Works cited
Pellant, Chris. Rocks and Minerals. DK, 2002
Anderson, Orson L., and Edward Schreiber. “The Relation between Refractive Index and
Density of Minerals Related to the Earth's Mantle.” Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 70,
no. 6, 15 Mar. 1965, pp. 1463–1471., doi:10.1029/jz070i006p01463.
Dutch, Steven. “Kyanite Structure.” ​Crystal Structures​, Prof. Steven Dutch,
www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/Petrology/Kyanite%20Structure.HTM. The site is not officially
representative of the university, but Prof. Dutch lectures at the University of Wisconsin -
Green Bay.
Graphs provided by Desmos (www.desmos.com)