Who are they, How are they formed and What is so special about them.....
A gem is also called a good stone, in its broad definition, it is a rare rock, mineral or fossil, particularly beautiful and of great financial value after processing. From time immemorial man has been attracted to gems due to their beauty and rarity and has created jewelry, sculptures and ornaments from them. Gemstones are usually found in rocks in the depths of the earth or in rivers and streams.
Gemstones are found mainly in Peretz and slate rocks, sometimes also in sedimentary rocks, relatively high concentrations of gemstones are found in South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Tibet and many other countries. When the stones are in their natural state they look like normal stones. After peeling, the stone inside is revealed, which becomes shiny after polishing. The monetary value of the gemstone is determined by its transparency, cleanliness and weight. The weight of precious gemstones is measured in carats. The identification of the gemstone is determined by experts (gemologists) who know how to distinguish between the types of minerals.
Gemstones get their color from the concentration of metallic oxide in them. There are gems such as diamond, amethyst, ruby and sapphire, which have a crystalline structure, with a long-term cyclical arrangement of the atoms of the material, which gives them their unique shapes and the way light is reflected in them.
Gemstones are defined by their hardness. Hardness is defined according to the Moss scale, which defines hardness on a continuum from 1 to 10, where the hardest is 10 and the softest is 1. For example: the diamond is defined as 10 and talc is defined as 1. Stones with a hardness level of approximately 7 are considered "semi-precious" gems, such as quartz, turquoise, amethyst, jade, topaz, and more.... As a rule, harder and more transparent stones are more expensive.
Over the years, man has attributed various virtues and properties to gems, and they have occupied and still occupy a large place in various religions and beliefs
In Judaism, gems were set in the priestly garments worn by the high priest during the sacred service in the Tabernacle and the Temple - the breastplate. A dozen precious stones were embedded in Hoshan: ruby, petda, barakat, garnet, sapphire, diamond, Leshem, Shebo, Achalma, Tarshish, Shoham, and Yshepah - as the number of tribes of Israel. The stones were arranged in four vertical columns, and on each stone was engraved the name of one of the tribes of Israel.
Over the years there have been debates and mixed opinions about the meaning of the gemstones, whether they were intended for a display of beauty or whether they symbolized and conferred their various virtues... since the gemstones are attributed many powers and energetic abilities.
In ancient graves precious stones were sometimes buried with the dead. The crusaders found these stones in the Middle Ages and took them to Europe, where they attributed supernatural powers to these stones. For example, the sapphire stone was considered a protection against poverty.
Only the diamond, the ruby, the sapphire, the ruby, the opal and the amethyst were considered really good stones, and all the rest were only considered semi-good stones, or inferior stones.
The beauty of nature
There are several ways in which gemstones are formed, common to all forms of formation is the fact that the raw material (rock or mineral) is under extreme pressure and heat conditions which result in the crystallization of a unique stone, with a specific shape, unique color, degree of difficulty and degree of transparency.
What are the processes that cause the formation of gems?
1 Crystallization in the trend:
One method of gem formation is crystallization within a magma. The magma is a layer of molten rocks located in the lower part of the earth's crust. This is a very warm liquid layer (very, very!). This layer is in constant motion in the depths of the earth and can enter the caves that exist within the layers of the sphere or into spaces that open as a result of constant and natural displacement. In these spaces the trend crystallizes and cools and creates rocks called bedrock. In these rocks, under high pressure, gems such as topaz, quartz and diamond can be formed.
2 Metamorphism:
Another method of creating gemstones is the process of metamorphism, which means transformation. In this procedure, rocks that already exist in a solid state of aggregation undergo fusion due to contact with the trend or as a result of exposure to high temperatures and pressure. With these methods, gems such as the ruby and the sapphire are created.
3 formation in a water reservoir:
Another method is called sedimentary. There are different types of gemstones that are formed in bodies of water, usually these are hot bodies of water that, after cooling, form sediments that also contain the gemstones.
Today, you can purchase gemstones produced in a laboratory.
Gemstones of different types such as: diamonds, ruby, sapphire and emerald. The advanced production methods make it possible to choose the color and the exact luster desired for the creation of the stone. So that it is possible to produce completely identical stones or unique and special stones whose color does not exist in nature.
There are two types of man-made gems, the first is defined as "synthetic stones", these are "replicas" that man has made of gems that also occur naturally in the world. The second
option is stones that are completely man-made. These are actually stones whose materials or processes included in the production do not occur naturally.
Gems durability and beauty
The main characteristics that are considered and by which different types of stones are distinguished are the color of the stone, hardness, hardness, transparency and durability. All these define the durability and the beauty of the stone standing before us.
In terms of color, there are many types of stones that can come in a very wide variety of colors and not just in several shades of the same color, this is mainly related to the metals found in that stone.
The hardness of the stone is a characterization of the stone's ability to withstand scratches and external defects. A good example of this can be seen in diamonds, where you can identify a real diamond by creating a scratch on it. If the diamond is not damaged, it is a real diamond.
The hardness of the stone is a parameter that indicates the level of strength of the material, whether it breaks or is easily damaged as a result of a physical load on it (for example, a blow).
The transparency of the stone describes the ability to see through the stone. There are gems that are completely transparent like the diamond and on the other hand there are stones with a deep color that does not allow the passage of light through the stone.
And the last parameter is the durability aspect which characterizes the reactions formed between the stone and external materials and how resistant it is to the processes of various chemical reactions.
Precious and semi-precious gems:
The two categories that contain most types of gemstones are the separation between precious gems and those defined as semi-precious. The difference between these two categories comes from the characterization of the hardness of the stones. Degrees of hardness range from 1 to 10 according to the Moss scale.
Precious gems
Stones that have entered the category of precious gems are stones with a hardness level above 8 on the Moss scale. The category of precious gems includes only four types of stones, the diamond (which has the highest known hardness level, level 10), the emerald (Emerald), the sapphire and the ruby.
Semi-precious gems
Similarly, stones with a hardness level of less than 8 would generally be considered semi-precious gemstones.
But the catalog according to expensive and less expensive is not accurate and there are stones from the semi-precious category which may be more expensive than stones in the expensive category.
It is important to remember that a product is considered rare in two cases, the first is when it cannot be produced or obtained and the second is when its demand increases significantly. Thus, gems that are considered the least expensive today, may become more expensive due to an increase in demand and vice versa.
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