Meanings
- uncountablemineralschemistryA monoclinic-prismatic colorless mineral containing magnesium, oxygen, sodium, and sulfur.
The principal changes which have taken place in the deposits are those of kieserite and rock salt into vanthoffite and loewite, and of carnallite into sylvite. The vanthoffite crystals are almost pure.
1914, Journal of the Chemical Society, Volume 106, Part 2, page 3762 more examples
1968, Robert Kühn, Geochemistry of the German Potash Deposits, Richard B. Mattox (editor), Saline Deposits: A Symposium based on Papers from the International Conference on Saline Deposits, Houton Texas, 1962, Geological Society of America, Special Paper 88, page 431, At high temperatures there is a separation of the “thermophile” salts, halite, anhydrite, thenardite, bloedite, vanthoffite, loeweite, kainite, and langbeinite, which have a negative coefficient of solubility.
1980, P. A. Storm, The Great Salt Lake Brine System, J. Wallace Gwynn (editor), Great Salt Lake: A Scientific, Historical and Economic Overview, Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, Bulletin 116, page 150, Other sodium bearing minerals that can be produced through solar evaporation are astrakainite. glaserite, and vanthoffite.
Origin
From Dutch Vanthoff + -ite, named for Dutch physical chemist and Nobel Prize winner Jacobus Hendricus van 't Hoff, Jr (1852-1911).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
vanthoffite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vanthoffite
“vanthoffite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vanthoffite. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vanthoffite,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vanthoffite.
Source: vanthoffite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.