Iron(II) sulfide
Overview
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...
with the formula
Chemical formula
A chemical formula or molecular formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound....
. In practice, iron sulfides are often non-stoichiometric. Powdered iron sulfide is pyrophoric (i.e. will ignite spontaneously in air).
"Iron sulfide" exists in several distinct forms, which differ in the ratio of sulfur to iron
Stoichiometry
Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relative quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions. In a balanced chemical reaction, the relations among quantities of reactants and products typically form a ratio of whole numbers...
and properties:
- PyrrhotitePyrrhotitePyrrhotite is an unusual iron sulfide mineral with a variable iron content: FeS . The FeS endmember is known as troilite. Pyrrhotite is also called magnetic pyrite because the color is similar to pyrite and it is weakly magnetic...
, Fe1-xS, a mineral, which displays ferrimagnetismFerrimagnetismIn physics, a ferrimagnetic material is one in which the magnetic moments of the atoms on different sublattices are opposed, as in antiferromagnetism; however, in ferrimagnetic materials, the opposing moments are unequal and a spontaneous magnetization remains...
and crystallizes in monoclinic system.