What is cinnabar?!
Answers: i think its used for feng shui but what is it????
Cinnabar is a colorful mineral that adds a unique color to the mineral color palette. Its cinnamon to scarlet red color can be very attractive. Well shaped crystals are uncommon and the twinned crystals are considered classics among collectors. The twinning in cinnabar is distinctive and forms a penetration twin that is ridged with six ridges surrounding the point of a pryamid. It could be thought of as two scalahedral crystals grown together with one crystal going the opposite way of the other crystal.
Cinnabar was mined by the Roman Empire for its mercury content and it has been the main ore of mercury throughout the centuries. Some mines used by the Romans are still being mined today. Cinnabar shares the same symmetry class with quartz but the two form different crystal habits.
cinnabar is a cinnamon bar shop....im not sure if thats what u were looking 4....but ya....
a cinnamon cereal bar.
For the plant resin, see Dragon's blood.
For the moth, see Cinnabar moth.
Cinnabar
General
Category Mineral
Chemical formula mercury(II) sulfide, HgS
Identification
Color Brownish-red
Crystal habit Rhombohedral to tabular. Granular to massive
Crystal system Hexagonal
Cleavage Prismatic, perfect
Fracture Uneven to subconchoidal
Mohs Scale hardness 2-2.5
Luster Adamantine to dull
Refractive index 2.940-3.220[1]
Streak Scarlet
Specific gravity 8 - 8.2 g/cm3
Solubility 3×10-26 g per 100 ml water[citation needed]
Cinnabar, sometimes written cinnabarite, is a name applied to red mercury(II) sulfide (HgS), or native vermilion, the common ore of mercury. The name comes from the Greek - "kinnabari" - used by Theophrastus, and was probably applied to several distinct substances. Other sources say the word comes from the Persian zinjifrah, a word of uncertain origin. In Latin it was known as minium, meaning also "red lead" - a word probably borrowed from Iberian
Cinnabar, sometimes written cinnabarite, is a name applied to red mercury(II) sulfide (HgS), or native vermilion, the common ore of mercury. Although cinnabar is known to be highly toxic,[2] it is nevertheless used (as is arsenic) in powdered form mixed with water in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Although cinnabar is no longer used in Western medicine, it (along with mercury) historically was used extensively in the West, and TCM practitioners sometimes prescribe it as part of a medicinal mixture, often on the basis of the concept of "using poison to cure poison."
Cinnabar has been used for its color in the new world since the Olmec culture[5]. Cinnabar was often used in royal burial chambers during the peak of Mayan civilization. The red stone was inserted into limestone sarcophagi, both as a decoration and, more importantly, to deter vandals and thieves with its well-known toxicity.[citation needed]
The most popularly known use of cinnabar is in Chinese carved lacquerware, a technique that apparently originated in the Song Dynasty[3]. The danger of mercury poisoning may be reduced in ancient lacquerware by entraining the powdered pigment in lacquer[4], but could still pose an environmental hazard if the pieces were accidentally destroyed. In the modern jewelry industry, the toxic pigment is replaced by a resin-based polymer[5] that approximates the appearance of pigmented lacquer.
In the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor and certain privileged bishops (such as the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Archbishop of Cyprus) were allowed the exclusive right of signing their names with ink colored vermilion by the addition of cinnabar.
It's a mineral that's a bright red color. The red color is quite popular in oriental decorating. It's said to bring good luck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar