galena

/gə'li:nə/

Thân thiện

A student examines a piece of galena in geology class.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A soft, blue-grey mineral; lead sulfide; a major source of lead: Galena is a naturally occurring mineral composed primarily of lead and sulfur. It is the most important ore for extracting metallic lead.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The geologist identified the specimen as galena. (The geologist identified the specimen as the mineral lead sulfide.)
  • This region's mines are rich in galena. (This region's mines contain a large amount of the lead ore.)
  • Galena has a distinctive metallic luster and cubic crystal structure. (The mineral lead sulfide has a characteristic shiny appearance and often forms cube-shaped crystals.)

Advanced Usage

• "Galena ore": The raw mineral material from which lead is extracted.
  • The smelter processes tons of galena ore each day. (The smelter processes tons of the raw lead sulfide mineral each day.)

Variants and Related Words

• Galenite: An alternative, less common name for the same mineral.
• Lead glance: A historical or mining term for galena, referring to its appearance and composition.

Synonyms

• Lead sulfide: The chemical compound name for galena (PbS).
• Lead ore: A general term for minerals from which lead is extracted, with galena being the primary one.

Học thuật

Noun

1. soft blue-grey mineral; lead sulfide; a major source of lead