<p>If I add acetic acid to limestone, I can get calcium acetate crystals to grow but if I add acetic acid to dolomite, supposedly I can grow aragonite which is a form of calcium carbonate. </p>

<p>Why would I get crystals of an acetate in one instance and a carbonate in the other? And, what happens to the acetate ion and the magnesium when forming aragonite?</p>

<p>I know that aragonite can form instead of calcite because of something called "magnesium poisoning" but I still do not understand how any carbonate is formed when dolomite is immersed in acetic acid. </p>

<geochemistry><mineralogy><crystallography>
Why does aragonite form in one case and an acetate in another?
Chris Winchell
# Why does aragonite form in one case and an acetate in another?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-03)

If I add acetic acid to limestone, I can get calcium acetate crystals to grow but if I add acetic acid to dolomite, supposedly I can grow aragonite which is a form of calcium carbonate.

Why would I get crystals of an acetate in one instance and a carbonate in the other? And, what happens to the acetate ion and the magnesium when forming aragonite?

I know that aragonite can form instead of calcite because of something called "magnesium poisoning" but I still do not understand how any carbonate is formed when dolomite is immersed in acetic acid.

**Tags:** geochemistry, mineralogy, crystallography


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