Beautiful raw chunks of Cheetah, Serpentine from the mines of Bahia in Brazil.

Cheetah is a certain type of serpentine, The mineral serpentine or clinochrysotiel is an iron-magnesium-silicate having the chemical formula (Mg, Fe) 3Si2O5 (OH) 4. It belongs to the fylosilicaten. The amorphous mineral can be red, yellow, white and green. The green color is typical of the mineral in the mantle rock serpentinite. The hardness is 2.5 to 4, depending on the composition and serpentine has an average density of 2.59. One of these species is of asbestos. The inhalation of this kind is harmful to health. The mineral serpentine, like the rock serpentinite, named after the Latin word serpens, which means "serpent". The form in which the minerals have grown reminiscent of the rock in the shape of a snake. It was also used to be used as a remedy for snake bites. The other name for serpentinite, clinochrysotiel, is derived from the Greek words clinos, chrysos and tilos (or "crooked, crooked", "gold" and "fiber"). It is so called by the gold-colored fibrous structure that can take the mineral. Serpentine is indicative of mineral serpentinite, a peridotite often converted by hydrothermal activity. Under the influence of pressure and temperature of the olivine and pyroxene from the mantle rock have been converted into serpentine. This is sometimes called serpentinitisatie. The chemical reaction equation is: 4Mg2SiO4 (olivine) + 4H2O (l) + 2CO2 (aq) → Mg6Si4O10 (OH) 8 (serpentine) + 2MgCO3 (magnesite) Serpentine is therefore a mineral that is found in those areas where mantle rock on surface has come, usually in orogenen. In Greece and in the Alps, serpentine opened widely.