whats the differenc between aquamarine and garnet?
147739
The two are very different minerals. \n\nGarnet describes a group of minerals, of the general formula of\nA3B2 (SiO4) 3  where A = Ca, Fe, etc, and B=Al, Cr, etc. Garnet comes in a variety of colors including red, black, brown, green, orange, pink, and colorless.  They are sometimes used as gemstones, but probably are more popular as a coating in high quality sandpaper and other abrasives. \n\nHere are some photos of different garnet minerals:\nhttp://www.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/garnets.htm\nTo see more data on the mineral properties go here:\nhttp://www.mindat.org/min-1651.html\n\nAquamarine is a blue gemstone variety of a mineral known as beryl. Beryl is Be3Al2Si6O18. Aquamarine and other varieties of beryl are much more popular as gemstones than garnet. Beryl also comes in green, blue, yellow, white, pink and other colors. Beryl is slightly harder than garnet with a rating 7.5 to 8 compared to 6.5 to 7.5 on Moh's scale of hardness. \n\nHere are pictures of beryls including aquamarine:\nhttp://www.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/beryl/beryl.htm\n\n\nHOOK 'EM HORNS!!!!
417060
Probably white.  But, double check that a pearl is even a mineral - I don't remember that, but it's been a while
1058832
i prefer AQUA!! it's a great color and really pretty
800589
Peridot (pronounced "pear-uh-dot" or "pear-uh-doe", IPA: /pɛɹɪdɑːt/ or Fr. /peʁido/) is the gem quality variety of forsteritic olivine. The chemical composition of peridot is (Mg, Fe)2SiO4, with Mg in greater quantities than Fe. The name of the gemstone is believed to come from either the Arabic word faridat meaning "gem" or the French word peritot meaning "unclear." Peridot is one of the few gemstones that comes in only one color. The depth of green depends on how much iron is contained in the crystal structure, and varies from yellow-green to olive to brownish green. Peridot is also often referred to as "poor man's emerald". Olivine is a very abundant mineral, but gem-quality peridot is rather rare. Peridot crystals have been collected from iron-nickel meteorites.
153831
Pure quartz is clear and translucent, but natural quartz is typically tainted with impurities, and it takes on the color of those. Here are some examples:\n\n# Amethyst's color is due to an iron (ferric, Fe+3) impurity-induced color center\n# Citrine's color is due to an iron (ferrous, Fe+2) impurity-induced color center\n# Milky quartz's color is due to microscopic air, carbon dioxide, or water inclusions\n# Rose quartz's (crystalline) color is due to aluminum and phosphorus impurities - massive rose quartz's color is due to microscopic and, as yet, unidentified dumortierite-like fibers\n# Smoky quartz's color is due to an aluminum impurity-induced color center aided by natural irradiation
131274
There are many reasons why a mineral might have a different streak color than its outward color. First, there are translucent minerals that are colored by trace elements. These minerals require a large amount of travel time for light to pick up the coloring effects of these trace elements. As a result, small crystals are typically paler than large crystals and extrapolating down to a speck of powder will remove all coloring effects of a trace element and result in a white streak. A translucent mineral that has variable colors will almost certainly have a white streak. \n\nSecondly, a mineral's structure and/or coatings can affect the outward color of a mineral and the streak in many ways is the true color of the mineral. Pyrite (known as "Fool's Gold") is always brassy yellow when found in crystals, even broken crystals, of any size; but when powdered, produces a black streak. It is the structure and chemistry of pyrite that produces the brassy yellow color, but only when enough structure is there. Gold's streak by the way is yellow! One note of caution, a streak plate is only about 6.5 in hardness and a mineral harder than 6.5 will not leave a streak on a streak plate but might scratch the plate leaving a white powder of porcelain, not the mineral! Fortunately most minerals harder than 6.5 have a white streak anyways.
23703
Iolite is a mineral sometimes used as a gemstone. Gem quality  a sapphire blue in color to a bluish violet color to yellow gray in color depending on refraction of light It is found in Burma and Sri Lanka. Actually called, cordierite. On the Mohs hardness scale about 7 to 7.5\n The two stones can be confused but are very different and especially when price comes into the conversation as tanzanite is a rare stone that is very very pricey.\nTanzanite is a marketing name by Tiffany & Co. and this stone is not popular with alot of people because of the mining industry of Tanzania. They make a great deal of money off this stone while using methods many people find deplorable. It is still. It is a  purple stone generallly after heat treating because it comes out of the ground a bronze color. It has a Mohs hardnes of 6.5 to 7
1055512
Ruby is the mineral Corundum  ( Aluminum oxide) \n\nGarnet is a Silicate ( Silicon oxide) SiO4\n\nSapphires are all colors but RED. Red Corundum is called Ruby.\nPink is sometimes called pink sapphire or pink ruby.\n\nGarnets come in all color but blue. But blue can be made.\n\nTo me the Garnet is a brighter red and more crystalline; but there are many beautiful orange and green garnets.
115410
An ore has minerals or metals suspended in a base, unwanted material that needs to be refined to make the pure mineral or metal usable.\n\nA gem is a crystaline material that has some intrinsic value.
96253
Calcite...my favorite mineral!!! (Calcium carbonate, get it?)\n\nHardness is the most obvious. Calcite is 3 on Moh's scale. Quite soft! and quartz is 7.\n\nA penny, a nail or knife, a glass plate, all will help you separate these two. The quartz will scratch everything there. \n\nOne more test, that I didn't put on your other list that is the best test here, the acid test. A dilute acid will fizz when applied to the calcite, while the quartz will not react at all. This is why all good geologists carry around a bottle of acid in the field. Quartz (sandstone) and calcite (limestone) can be deceptively similar in appearance. \n\nThese two are good examples of why you cannot rely on just color or shape. Both quartz and calcite come in a variety of colors, depending on the impurity, and both can be completely opaque.(Think of rose quartz, milky quartz, amethyst, etc, and realize that calcite has as much variety) Both can be very similar crystal shapes since they are both in the trigonal system. Both have a white streak. Both have a glassy (vitreous) luster. \nCalcite:\nhttp://webmineral.com/data/Calcite.shtml\nQuartz:\nhttp://webmineral.com/data/Quartz.shtml\n\nThere is one more online resource I think you should look at:http://www.mindat.org/\nWebmineral.com is better for the questions you have asked, but mindat.org is very comprehensive and will have photos of more variations of the minerals that might help you understand the challenge of picking which properties are best for which minerals. On a lab test, you may be given samples to test that you have never seen, and they may be minerals you have seen before but in a different form (yes- its a trick), so knowing your tests can save you.\n\nBy the way, I just noticed your question about why color should be used with caution for identifying minerals. I think this answer is a good example of that. Many minerals come in many different colors due to some small impurity in the mineral. Both quartz and calcite come in almost every color of the rainbow. Fluorite is another good example of a mineral that can come in many different colors. Other examples are the many copper compounds which come in various shades of blues and greens. Because there are so many different copper minerals with the same color you can't use the color as a diagnostic for any one of them.
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1. Color. This can vary based on the amount or type of impurities in the mineral, or because of different ratios of certain elements such as (Mg,Fe)[X]Si[8]O[22](OH)[2] in amphiboles - the X and the ratio of Mg to Fe can vary.\n\n2. Index of Refraction. This is the change in angle of light passing through the mineral, and can be changed by anion content just like the color.\n\n3. Crystal shape. This can actually be completely different in an alteration mineral than the pure crystallized form. i.e. mineral formed from alteration of pyroxene can retain the crystal (hexagonal) form which may be completely different than the shape it would have if it crystallized out of solution or in a magma chamber.
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Tourmaline has some distinguishing features. It has three-sided prisms; no other common mineral has three sides. Prisms faces often have heavy vertical striations that produce a rounded triangular effect. Tourmaline is rarely perfectly euhedral. \n\nZircon is tetragonal.
617535
Rubies are Red Corundum.  They belong to the same family as Sapphires.  Most people think of Ruby as Red and Sapphire as Blue.  What a pleasant surpirse they receive when they find out that Sapphires come in orange, purple, green, black, yellow etc and Rubies come in a myriad of Red shades like pure red, orangey red, pinkish red, brownish red etc.  Nature's factory is fun & quirky!\n\nTo a color scientist, there is no Pink.  Technically, Pink is Red at a lower saturation.  Using this logic, there should be no distinction between Ruby & Pink Sapphire.  Think about Blue.  We don't have a special name for light Blue Sapphires.  \n\nHowever, the market reality is that we do make a distinction between Rubies & Pink Sapphires.  One of the reasons is because Rubies usually command a higher price than Pink Sapphires.  \n\nWhere do we draw the line bewteen a Ruby & a Pink Sapphire?  In general, it is b/o saturation levels.  Higher saturation reds are considered Ruby.  Lower saturation reds are Pink Sapphires.  However, having personally handled stones of superb saturation that would still be considered to be Pink Sapphires, I would have to say it's best to use your own judgement on a case by case basis.  \n\nTo make things even more interesting, perception also varies from country to country.  Many Pinkish Red Rubies (so favoured by the Japanese) are called Pink Sapphires by Americans.\n\nShould you buy or not? If the price is fair, and you like the look of the stones - go ahead!  \n\nHope that helped!  Good luck, Ryan!
594609
what month were you born in? \nJanuary: garnet \nFebruary: amethyst \nMarch: aquamarine\nApril: diamond \nMay: emerald \nJune: pearl\nJuly: ruby \nAugust: peridot\nSeptember: sapphire \nOctober: opal or tourmaline \nNovember: yellow topaz \nDecember: turquoise
958993
Like diamonds and garnets, spinel belongs to the isometric or cubic crystal system.  The typical crystal habit of spinels is octahedral - which looks like two 4-sided pyramids placed base to base.  It is also commonly found twinned, and may be found as rhombic dodecahedrons.
585350
Woah I just answered this question. Weird. The 15 year gift is Crystal. As in, wine glasses, etc. For gemstones its Ruby.
993033
check this:\nhttp://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/gem-by-gem.html