1. To date, more than 4 thousand minerals are known. Every year, several dozen new mineral species are discovered and several are “closed” - they prove that such a mineral does not exist.
2. All gemstones are mined by hand.
3. On average, for every carat of emerald mined in Colombia, 20 tons of processed soil are used.
4. Diamond is the only one of all precious stones that consists of one chemical element - carbon.
5. The amount of minerals is constantly decreasing, so jewelry prices will always rise.
6. There is a special garnet (ant) deposits of which can only be found next to anthills. Crystals of this mineral are found only near ant nests. When building a nest, insects throw crystals of this mineral to the surface. These ants live in the USA in a place called “4 Corners”.
7. Many people mistakenly believe that diamonds are only colorless. In fact, anyone can envy the color palette of a diamond precious mineral. But nowadays, not all colored diamonds have natural color. Many stones are artificially colored. This is due to their rarity.
8. Before the invention of the Mohs scale (mineralogical hardness scale), stones were identified by color. So all the green stones became emeralds, the red ones became rubies, etc.
9. Real emerald more expensive than a diamond.
10. 95% of all rubies are artificially refined. Only truly large and perfectly beautiful stones can avoid such a fate.
11. Ruby and sapphire are the same thing. The difference between these stones is only in color.
12. 90% of all mined diamonds are used for industrial purposes, and only 10% ends up on jewelry counters.
13. Alexandrite was named after Tsarevich Alexander, the future Emperor Alexander II.
14. Aquamarine and emerald are the same thing, just an admixture of different chemical elements gives different colors. Chrome turns emerald green, and aluminum turns aquamarine blue.
15. Topaz has a bad habit of becoming dull and discolored in the sun. Therefore, jewelry containing this mineral is not recommended to be worn to the beach.
16. There is a "red emerald". It is actually a red variety of beryl, Bixbite. This is an extremely rare mineral and is mined only in Utah (USA).
17. Pink topaz is the rarest colored variety of this mineral. It is pink topazes that are most often counterfeited.
18. Some minerals are very dangerous. For example, charoite may turn out to be a “mini-Chernobyl”, and cinnabar “a broken mercury thermometer”.
19. Almost all emeralds have cracks and inclusions (according to various sources, 90–95%). But this does not reduce their value, because the mineral is evaluated by color and saturation.
20. The Kremlin stars are made of ruby glass.
Moving stones in Death Valley
There are many places in the world that people have called “Death Valley”. Now we are interested in one of them - Death Valley on the border of California and Nevada in the USA. It is located approximately halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It contains the lowest point in North America - 86 m below sea level, and also recorded the highest temperature in the Western Hemisphere - 56.7 ° C (in 1913). But it is known mainly for the moving stones on the dry lake Racetrack Playa. These stones are called differently - moving, floating, dancing, sliding, riding, crawling.
The essence of the phenomenon is simple and incomprehensible at the same time: stones weighing up to 350 kg move along the bottom of a dry lake as if by themselves, without external influence, leaving behind a clearly visible trace. When seeing such a picture, every person has a thought: how, in what way, why are they crawling?! It is quite obvious that no living beings are involved here - this is simply not necessary for anyone. At first they tried to explain the movement of the stones by supernatural forces. Then, as science developed, otherworldly forces were replaced by electromagnetic forces. This was in keeping with the spirit of the times, but did not explain the mechanism of movement. Then many hypotheses were invented that claimed to solve this mystery. The driving factors were either earthquakes, rainfall with water flows, or wind. Scientists recruited even the most modern technology- GPS.
Currently, the most plausible hypothesis is considered to be the following. During the rainy season, water accumulates at the bottom of the dry lake. Clay soil gets wet and becomes very slippery. Then the winds come into play, which can be very strong here. They move the stones, which easily slide through the mud. Due to the surrounding terrain, the winds here chaotically change direction and form vortices. This leads to the fact that the stones move in different directions, turn in different sides, their trajectories intersect.
1. Today more than 4 thousand minerals are known. Every year, several dozen new mineral species are discovered and several are “closed” - they prove that such a mineral does not exist.
2. All gemstones are mined by hand.
3. On average, for every carat of emerald mined in Colombia, 20 tons of processed soil are used.
4. Diamond is the only one of all precious stones that consists of one chemical element - carbon.
5. The amount of minerals is constantly decreasing, so jewelry prices will always increase.
6. There is a special garnet (ant) deposits of which can only be found next to anthills. Crystals of this mineral are found only near ant nests. When building a nest, insects throw crystals of this mineral to the surface. These ants live in the USA in a place called “4 Corners”.
7. Many people mistakenly believe that diamonds are only colorless. In fact, the color palette of a diamond can be the envy of any precious mineral. But nowadays, not all colored diamonds have natural color. Many stones are artificially colored. This is due to their rarity.
8. Before the invention of the Mohs scale (mineralogical hardness scale), stones were identified by color. So all the green stones became emeralds, the red ones became rubies, etc.
9. A real emerald is more expensive than a diamond.
10. 95% of all rubies are artificially refined. Only truly large and perfectly beautiful stones can avoid such a fate.
11. Ruby and sapphire are the same thing. The difference between these stones is only in color.
12. 90% of all mined diamonds are used for industrial purposes, and only 10% ends up on jewelry counters.
13. Alexandrite was named after Tsarevich Alexander, the future Emperor Alexander II.
14. Aquamarine and emerald are the same thing, just the admixture of different chemical elements gives different colors. Chrome turns emerald green, and aluminum turns aquamarine blue.
15. Topaz has a bad habit of becoming dull and discolored in the sun. Therefore, jewelry containing this mineral is not recommended to be worn to the beach.
16. There is a “red emerald”. It is actually a red variety of beryl, Bixbite. This is an extremely rare mineral and is mined only in Utah (USA).
17. Pink topaz is the rarest colored variety of this mineral. It is pink topazes that are most often counterfeited.
18. Some minerals are very dangerous. For example, it may turn out to be a “mini-Chernobyl”, and cinnabar “a broken mercury thermometer”.
19. Almost all emeralds have cracks and inclusions (according to various sources, 90-95%). But this does not reduce their value, because the mineral is evaluated by color and saturation.
20. The Kremlin stars are made of ruby glass.
Addition from volshebnii_les
Emerald and aquamarine are also called beryl; by and large, they are its varieties.
Not every emerald is more expensive than a diamond, as they say, depending on which emerald, depending on which diamond. (The most expensive emeralds are dark green, thick in color, without cracks or defects)
How much are the British Queen's jewels worth together? Is it true that diamond is not as durable a mineral as we think? Do red emeralds exist? And finally, what are the stars on the towers of the Moscow Kremlin made of? Answers to these and other questions are in the selection. amazing facts about precious and semi-precious stones from SOKOLOV.
Few people know that absolutely all precious stones are mined by hand.
There are more than 4 thousand minerals in the world; Every year, scientists discover dozens of new species, but some minerals are “closed” - that is, it is proven that a certain “stone” on Earth either no longer exists, or it is not a separate species.
Jewelry prices will only increase, because there are fewer and fewer real minerals left on the planet. Hurry up to purchase!😊
Not all mined diamonds are beautifully cut and displayed in the windows of jewelry stores. Surprisingly, 90% of these minerals are used for industrial purposes! And only 10% goes to the benefit and prosperity of the jewelry industry.
Ant garnet is a special mineral that is found next to... an anthill. Scientists find the smallest crystals of such garnet near ant nests in only one place - in the USA, in a region called the Four Corners. The name of the area symbolizes the territorial proximity of 4 states: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah.
If a diamond were sold in a supermarket and had the usual label on it, the description of its composition would be the most laconic - carbon. Despite the well-known “hard properties” of the mineral, it is still quite fragile: one blow of a hammer is required to destroy the stone.
If you think that a diamond is the most expensive stone in the world, you are very mistaken. The first place in the ranking is given to
How much do you think the entire jewelry collection of the Queen of England is worth? You still won't guess. Elizabeth II is the happy owner of jewelry and jewelry worth about $57 million.
Which colored topaz is the rarest? Pink. It is extremely difficult to obtain such “pebbles”. Which topaz is the most fashionable? Delicate pinkish-powdery shade Misty Rose. Look for such a “treasure” for yourself.
The unusual stone iolite was used by the Vikings for a very practical purpose. The mineral helped soldiers determine the position of the sun. The point is the ability of iolite to polarize light: the direction of the beam affects the transparency of the stone. This - literally - little trick made it easier for the Vikings to search for the luminary even in a cloudy sky.
Ruby is considered a very rare and expensive stone, but there is a whole ruby rock on the planet! It is located in Yakutia, but such a colossus may not be noticed with the naked eye. How is this possible? The fact is that the rock is made up of tiny ruby crystals, which can only be distinguished under a microscope!
Amber is nothing more than the name of the resin of coniferous trees, which has lain in the depths of about 30,000,000 years.
Did you know that emeralds come in red? The reddish stones, which are a rare variety of the mineral beryl, are called Bixbite. In search of “red emeralds”, as well as for “ant garnet”, you will have to go again to the USA, and their “deposits” are located almost nearby: Bixbite is mined in the state of Utah we have already mentioned.
So what are the Kremlin stars made of? Originally - from Ural gems, which did not stand the test of time and harsh Moscow weather conditions and... became dull. In 1937, the Soviet government decided to install new stars - resistant to temperature changes, durable and not losing their color. A talented master, specialist glassmaker Nikanor Kurochkin compiled a recipe according to which a special glass was welded - ruby. It was from this that the shining red stars that decorated the Kremlin towers were made.
Which fact surprised you more than others? Let's discuss in the comments!
Precious stones are quite complex in structure, with the exception of diamond. It is based on only one chemical element - carbon. But 9/10 of all mined diamonds are used for production needs, and only 1/10 reaches jewelers and then consumers.
The weight of gemstones is measured in carats. These units originated from carob seeds, ideally similar to each other in size and shape. The weight of such a seed - 0.2 grams - was called a carat. This unit of measurement existed in the ancient world and has survived to this day. (Table for converting carats to grams)
To extract just one carat of emerald, about 20 tons of soil are dug up in mines in Colombia.
Emerald can be not only green, but also red. This type of gemstone is called bixbite. Its deposit has so far been found in only one place on the planet - in Utah.
Sapphire is usually thought of as a deep blue stone. In fact, purple, pink, orange, yellow and even green sapphires are found in nature, and are collectively known as “fancy” sapphires. The only color not available to this stone is red. Boris Godunov valued sapphires very much. He considered them magical, with many beneficial properties.
Ruby is a deep scarlet colored gemstone found almost everywhere. The only continent where its deposits have never been discovered is Antarctica. Traditionally, these stones are exported from Thailand, Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Tanzania. Rubies from Asia are considered to be the highest quality and, accordingly, most expensive.
It is no coincidence that ruby is considered the royal stone. He was worshiped by many historical figures. Cleopatra, Cardinal Richelieu, Mary Stuart and Marie de Medici had their own collections of rubies. And our contemporary, British Queen Elizabeth II, ordered a luxurious ruby tiara from court jewelers in 1973. The jewelry was made from stones given to her by the Burmese as a wedding gift.
We are used to buying jewelry without even thinking about what we know about gems. People know that diamond is the most expensive stone, many believe that the production of precious stones is completely automated, and many are not even aware of what class a particular crystal belongs to. On the one hand, the average consumer does not need to know such things, on the other hand, there are so many interesting facts about precious stones, so we decided to list some of them. Just like that, for general development and interest.
Perhaps the given data is not useful to everyone, but it is interesting to know that some stones can cause harm to the body. Many people buy jewelry with diamonds, emeralds and sapphires only because they have the mark of “status” stones, but in fact, there are both more expensive and rarer minerals. And, of course, you need to know that some crystals simply cannot be perfect by their nature, so if you are offered an emerald of rare transparency and without inclusions, then it is most likely a fake.
