Unfortunately the confusion does not end there, as we also have to deal with chemical and mineral names for solid phases. The chemical name of a solid compound is simply the word version of the chemical formula, for example “calcium hydroxide”. The mineral name (in this case “portlandite”) is meant to represent either a particular crystal structure or a potentially impure form of the phase. The various ways of describing some of the main solid phases associated with cement chemistry are summarized in Table 3.2. In this monograph we will use primarily the chemical name and the cement notation. In the case of the cement minerals, this is actually a bit inaccurate. Names such as alite and belite indicate a particular crystal structure as well as the fact that these phases contain a variety of impurities when found in cement.