Instruction
Scientists count about 3,000 natural minerals, and every year this number is replenished with new species. But only a hundred of them are widely distributed and used in various fields of production. In the Stone Age, silicon was a tool of labor, and the jewelry industry at all times would not have been so diverse without this material.
Amethyst, agate, ruby, turquoise, lapis lazuli, garnet, moonstone, opal, amber are a small list of popular minerals known as gems.
Diamond, which is translated from Greek as “irresistible, unsurpassed”, is the hardest and most durable among all minerals. It leaves scratches on any stones and, and nothing can scratch it. Due to this property, diamond is used in the mining industry. In jewelry production, a diamond is given a special brilliant cut, thanks to which this mineral begins to reveal its optical properties to the maximum. A diamond is the most expensive gemstone, measured in carats. Most often, diamonds are colorless and transparent, but they can also have shades of various colors - from yellow to black and brown. The largest diamonds are given names and become historic stones.
Pearls are a waste product of mollusks, arising from the deposition of layers of aragonite around a center in the shell mantle. Such a center may be a grain of sand or another foreign object. The color of pearls varies from snow white to black or greenish. It depends on impurities in aragonite and other factors. Depending on the size, pearls are divided into varietal, beads and pearl dust. The shape of this mineral is also varied. Large beads of the correct spherical shape are valued.
Malachite is one of the most beautiful minerals. Its color can contain the entire palette of green tones - from light green or turquoise to rich dark green, close to black. Malachite is a very common ornamental stone. Due to its softness, this mineral serves as the basis for vases, figurines, caskets and other souvenirs, and is also widely used in the jewelry industry. Malachite amulets and talismans have been popular since ancient times. The ancient Greeks decorated the facades of buildings with this material, and the Egyptians used malachite powder as an eyeliner.
Rock crystal, jasper, cat's and tiger's eye, chalcedony, citrine, flywheel and other precious stones are a variety. This mineral can have a different color and color density. For example, opaque red-green jasper and sparkling lemon yellow citrine. Transparent quartz is widely used in optics, radio engineering, acoustics and other areas of production and jewelry.
Amber is a fossil coniferous tree, its main deposit is considered to be the Baltic coast. This mineral has a number of healing properties, due to which it is very common in the production of talismans, jewelry, amulets. In the era of the Roman Empire, its value was equal to gold.
