Williamsite

An obsolete local, varietal term for antigorite serpentine of various colors, but typically green, from West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA.

Windhoekite

A member of the palygorskite-sepiolite group with a composition of approximately (Ca1.68Mn0.32)Fe3+2.96(Si7.87 Al0.08)O20(OH)410H1.98O.
See palygorskite-sepiolite group

Wodanite

An obsolete varietal term for biotite.

Wollastonite
Wonesite

A trioctahedral mica that shows interlayer deficiency. It is a series name (Rieder et al., 1998) with a generalized composition of Na0.5v0.5Mg2.5Al0.5(AlSi3)O10(OH)2, where = vacancy The formula indicates that it is not an end-member composition. Series names designate that additional research may be warranted.

Woodwardite
Wotanite

An obsolete varietal term for biotite.

Wulff rule

The Wulff rule or Gibbs-Curie-Wulff Theorem states that when the surface free energy of a crystal is minimized at equilibrium conditions, the perpendicular distance from a given crystal face to the center of the crystal divided by the surface free energy of that face is a constant for all faces of the crystal.

Wyoming bentonite

An obsolete term, see western bentonite.

Wyoming sodium bentonite

An obsolete term, see western bentonite.