#it's too soft and scratches too easily to have become a mainstream diamond stimulant | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

just-here-with-my-thoughts · 6 months ago

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Zircon!

The bright blue one is heated to induce that colour. Heating also changes the absorption spectra, to show only a single diagnostic absorption line at 653nm!

I can come back to you another day when I've got more time for a fuller review of gem-quality zircon (and how it differs from artificially created cubic zirconia) (only if you like?)

You're making me feel like I should get the spare room cleared and set up my microscope to have a go at photomicrography of some of these beuties...

just-thoughts-about-gems (this is the place to ask your gemstone questions)

#please do tell me if you want me to stop ^^;#this is great revision though #i learn best by repetition #so summoning facts and figures from memory for a tiny corner of the internet to enjoy helps me too #zircon #gemmology #gemology #very fuzzy photo #because i don't have a smartphone #will have to borrow one if i want to get better photos than this #so i assume in tiny metamict zircon grains you've never seen the double refraction caused by high birefringence?#like the DR in synthetic moissanite #oh and synthetic rutile!#DR so strong you don't even need a loupe!#it's too soft and scratches too easily to have become a mainstream diamond stimulant #but such a dazzling thing to look at as a stone specimen #also please feel free to tell me more about zircon thermochronometry!#i'd love to eventually do the year of study at the gem labs learning about advanced testing techniques #the kind of thing to let you identify a stone's inclusions #or likely geographical locality #for now i just have the basics #no lasers or infra-red spectroscopy for me #oh i can also do common emerald inclusions?#trying to remember everything you mentioned in the tags #i hope this all posts #is there a limit to how much i can ramble in the tags?#lets find out

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