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Bismuth

• 
  Silverfields Mine (Alexandra shaft), Coleman Township, Cobalt area, Cobalt-Gowganda region, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada
  © 2002 John H. Betts

• Formula:
  Bi

• System: Trigonal

• Name:
  As chemical element Bismuth was officially discovered in 1753 by French scientist Claude Geoffroy. The origin of the name comes from the German words Weisse Masse meaning white mass. However around 1400 the element name is already present in some scientific treaties. In fact before Geoffroy, also the Swiss scientist Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493 - 1541) probably better known under his latinized name of Paracelsus, mentioned the word “Bisemutum”. He said that the latin word came from a german term “Wissmut”. For him, the word “wissmut” was because in Saxony, around St. Georges, the mineral was extracted (gemutet), in the fields (in den Wiesen). For others, the word comes from another similar german word: Weissmuth = white material, and this is supported by the fact that bismuth is a bright metal of white colour.

• IMA Status: Valid (Grandfathered)

• Type Locality:
  Schneeberg District, Erzgebirge, Saxony, Germany

• Dana 8th: 1.3.1.4
  
  1 : NATIVE ELEMENTS AND ALLOYS
  3 : Semi-metals and non-metals

• Hardness (Mohs): 2 - 2½

• Density: 9.7 g/cm³ to 9.83 g/cm³ (measured)
  9.753 g/cm³ (calculated)

• Lustre: Metallic

• Diapheny: Opaque

• Diapheny: sectile

• Colour: Reddish-white to creamy-white; tarnishes iridescent pinkish, yellowish or bluish

• Streak: Silver-white