How can you tell a fake emerald from the real deal? I understand that today imitation gemstones are getting into the market and people aren't getting the real thing, how prevalant is that?
Petrified wood is essentially rock. So yeah, you can carve it... with stone cutting tools. Its more fragile than, say, a solid piece of rock though. Fake emeralds (you mean artificial) usually are a deeper green than the real emerald (unless you have a really high quality emerald. Also, they usually dont have the charateristic fractures and clevage as a real one... generally, if someone says they got this huge deep green, clean, clear emerald for really cheap... its either imitation (glass) or Aritifical. Ill have to look up Tanzanite... but the color it has is actually from it being heat treated. When mined, it has a dull brown to white color. After heat treating, it gains its purplish hue.
I've got a question; do you have to cut the facets so that they align with the crystal structure of the gem? If so, how do you detect the internal structure in an uncut stone?
I got a question right up your alley... Round (spherical) diamonds. I have been looking for someone who can (will) cut a nice clean diamond into a sphere. All I can find is those cheap brazilian "Diammond Pearls" and rumors that there is a company who has a petented method, but apparently, they do not come out very well (something to do with the grain?). Isn't there a way to cut a round-shaped diamond into an almost spherical shape with many facets, then maybe tumble it with diamond dust (that's how they do crystal spheres, right?) to make a spherical diamond? Do you know anyone who might do this?
More important question: Why in the world would you want a spherical diamond? That kind of defeats the purpose of having a diamond. The way the crystal strcutre works in a diamond produces a brilliant luster when faceted properly. A spherical diamond will look the same as a sphere of glass or sphere of quartz. As for how it might be done. Possibly with the rock tumbler method you suggested. More likley, that would be for polishing it before actually making it into a sphere. Something more like how they grind down ball bearings to an exacting size would be a better guess as to how it is done. Eburacum: The facets do not have to align in any way with the crstal stucture of the gem. However, In some respects it might be advantageous for structural reasons. Some gems are fragile, like emerald. If you cut against the grain, you might have a higher chance of cracking the stone. Im not tooo familiar with stone faceting, but I can ask a friend who does it when I get the chance. And Facial, yes, Zoisite is the family of stones more or less that Tanzinite follows in. Kinda like, Quartz... you have pink, brown, etc and so forth
Wouldn't the notion of "defeating the purpose" depend on why you want the diamond? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! And how do they do that? You haven't heard of anyone who does this?
You know, I dont recall of hand how that process is exactly done... It was in Discover a few months ago... Here's something interesting! And no I have not heard of that. It's just, well, kind of wastefull in the eyes of business. Unless there is a need for extremely hard marbles. Diamond btw is extremely hard... But can definitely be cracked. So dont think that a hammer blow to a dimond wouldnt hurt it. Heck, I could heat it up with a torch, drop it in cool water and it will shatter. Although... I wouldnt want to try exactly. Take it easy, Tristan
That was a really interesting link. Thank you. I want to use it for jewelry, not any kind of machinery or any such thing that would put it under great stress. I just love the ideal of natural diamonds (taking so long to form, hardest natural structure known to man, the essentially eternal nature of them) but I do not like the brilliant, glossy flashy style of faceted stones. I HATE "bling"! Plus, I am a fan of precision engineering. And I just wanted to know if it can be done. Like I said, I heard a rumor of one comapny that does it (a proprietary process that they don't share) but I don't know who they are, and I have heard they are not very impressive specimines (though I would like to see one for myself). Those Brazillian ones I mentioned are not at all what I am looking for.
What is the cheapest way for me to obtain an amethyst cathedral (not citrine) in the UK? Something about 2.5 ft high and 1ft wide? thanks c20
Are they running out of these beautiful, recently discovered gems like tsavorites and tanzanites? Or do they keep finding new lodes?
According to this link: http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/elements/diamond/diamond.htm 3820 degrees Kelvin
i didnt know you could melt diamond, hey where can i get some decent double terminate quarts crystals, about 1-2 inches long 5 of them in total around london, i will probably end up looking on ebay, what does diamond look like when in liquid form?, peace
For the crystals, check your local hippy store or maybe a science-y type place. You may be able to find them in a mall. Does London have malls? It should. You wouldn't be able to see molten carbon, as the white hot glow would burn your retinas out. Carbon has a ridiculously high melting temp; more than half that of the surface of the sun. That's a cop out answer, I know, but I imagine it would be clear, if it weren't glowing like a star. [edit] Carbon has a sublimation temp, now that I check again. It may just move from a solid to a gas without an inbetween stage. Anyway, a really great place to just browse around and learn all kinds of stuff is en.wikipedia.org. Try it out sometime Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! [editx2] I goofed. Upon triple checking, it does have a melting temperature. My bad. It appears the transpearancy of carbon comes from it's crystal structure. In a liquid state it would lose all crystal structure, and so would most definitely probably be clear. At such extreme temps it's very hard to predict the behavior of whatever it is we're talking about, but I'd guess, other than the white hot glow, it'd be sort of like liquid glass or water.
