Glossary of Terms

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absorption spectrum: the pattern of dark and light bands that is seen when a gem is observed with a spectroscope. These bands result from the absorption of certain wavelengths of white light passing through the stone. The colors that are NOT absorped determine the color of the gem.

acicular: crystals that have a "needle like" form; such as rutile in quartz.

Adularescence: a billowing flow of whitish or bluish colors that seem to float along the surface; caused by the diffused reflection of light from parallel intergrowths of albite and orthoclase feldspar.
Show me Moonstone adularescence

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allochromatic: a gemstone is allochromatic when it is colorless in it's pure state. Subsequent colour is derived from an impurity (usually a metallic oxide) that is not an essential part of the mineral's chemical composition. Beryl, Quartz and Corundum are all examples of allochromatic gemstones.

anisotropic: a term for crystals that are doubly refractive, which means that they will break light into 2 different rays, traveling at different speeds within the crystal.

asterism: star-like phenomena caused by light reflecting from tiny fiber-like inclusions that are perpendicular to the crystal faces; the number of rays depends on the cut of the gem in concert with the orientation of the inclusions.
Show me Asterism

biaxial: term used to describe crystals with two directions of single refraction. These are minerals crystallizing in the orthorhombic, monoclinic and triclinic crystal systems

birefringence: double refraction; the difference between the minimum and maximum refractive index of a gem

botryoidal: interlocking, rounded masses that sometimes look like grapes or bubbles resuting from radiating masses of fibrous crystals.
Show me Botryoidal Malachite

bruting: The cutting of one diamond with another. It is only used in the production of round stones, in order to round out the girdle of the diamond on a lathe

cabochon: A type of gemstone cut where the back of the stone is flat (or slightly domed) and the top is formed into a smooth rounded dome.
Show me Cabochon

carat:a unit of weight: 1/5th of a gram. The name comes from the seed of the carob tree, which was used as a weight due to it's remarkable uniformity.

chatoyancy: the cat’s eye-like phenomenon caused by light reflecting from tiny fiber-like inclusions within a gem. The eye is seen at right angles to the direction of the inclusions. Stones must be cut en cabochon to see this effect.
Show me Chatoyancy

cleavage:

contact zone: the area where intruding magma or hot water contacts, alters and recrystallizes the pre-existing surrounding rock

color zoning
Show me Color zoning

cryptocrystalline: a term originally used to describe a mineral made up of "sub microscopic components". It is rarely used today as microscopes have become so sophisticated "sub microscopic components" no longer exist. Microcrystalline is a better description.

crystal: a solid possesing an orderly and defining arrangement of atomic structue, influencing its physical form and optical properties

crystal axes: imaginary reference lines used to determine the relative position of crystal faces

crystal systems: the main 7 systems in which crystals are divided

crystallography:the study of crystals and their structure

cubic system: one of the crystal systems. See Crystal Systems & Forms
Show me Cubic system

dichroism: differential selective absorption seen in some doubly refractive gemstones when viewed in different crytallographic directions

dichroscopes: instrument used by gemologists to test for pleochroism · London dichroscope · calcite dichroscope

double refractive: all crystals, except cubic, have the ability to split light into two rays when it enters. These 2 rays travel at different velocities. This is termed double refraction.

emission lines:

epigenetic inclusions: inclusions that form after the gemstone finished crystallization. If the conditions the crystal is in, changes (heat and or pressure), material held in solid solution can be forced out and cyrstalize. Oriented rutile would be an example. Also, secondary cavities can form when fractures in stones are healed. In the process characteristic patterns of many tiny crystals or negative crystals are formed.

facet: when used as a verb to facet, this means to cut a gemstone into a faceted shape, such as a round brilliant cut, emerald cut, cushion cut or similar. When used as a noun, a facet is a flat surface (one of many) cut into a piece gem rough in order to maximize the reflection of light out of the stone.
Show me Faceted citrine

Fluorescence: Fluorescence is the emission of visible light by a gemstone when exposed to a light source whose light we normally cannot see. When the gemstone is exposed to ultraviolet light (UV), which falls outside the range of light that we can see, the UV light is absorbed by the gemstone. Due to processes inside the gemstone, it will lose energy. This loss of energy causes the UV light to change to a color in the visible light range (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo or violet).

hexagonal system: one of the crystal systems. See Crystal Systems & Forms.
Show me Hexagonal system

idiochromatic: a gemstone is idiochromatic when the element causing it's colour is an essential part it's chemical composition. For example, iron, which is an instrinsic part of the chemical makeup of Peridot is the cause of it's green colour.

inert: having no change, movement, or reaction. In chemistry, the term inert is used to describe something that is not chemically active.

igneous rocks: rocks that formed at very high temperaturs from siliceous (silica rich) melts.

imitations: materials used to mimic a gemstone without having the same composition as the stone it is imitating. ex: Synthetic color changing sapphire used to imitate Alexandrite or cubic zirconia used to imitate a diamond.

impurities: elements in the crystal structure that are foreign to the basic chemical composition of the gem.

inclusions: crytals, liquid or gas filled cavitites that have been enclosed within a gem or mineral. Often extremely diagnostic in determining the identity of a gemstone. Example: Bysollite inclusions in demantoid garnet.

infrared light: Also known as heat, these wavelengths are beyond the visible red: between 790Nm and 1,000,000Nm on the . These radiations can produce a reaction with some gems and minerals. See luminescence and thermoluminescence.

interference figure: the figure seen when anisotropic gemstones are viewed in convergent polarized light. This figure can be diagnostic in determining the identity of a gemstone.

isomorphous replacement: replacement of elements in a mineral's composition by other elements with the same valency. These elements do not substantially alter the crystal structure of the gem, but can cause wide variations in the gems' optic and physical properties. The Garnet Group is an excellent example of isomorphic replacement.

isotropic: gems and minerals that are singly refractive are termed isotropic. This means that light that enters the medium travels as one ray at one velocity in all directions. All cubic gems and amorphous substances are isotropic. See anistropic.

karat: the measure used to describe the purity of gold. 24 karat is pure gold, 100% or 24 of 24 parts gold, 18 karat is 75% gold, or 18 parts gold and 6 parts alloy metals, 14 karat is 58% gold, or 14 parts gold with 10 parts alloy metals.

Labradorescence: the phenomenon displayed by labradorite (caused by lamellar formation of lattice structure), which has an appearance of an predominantly bluish or greenish oil slick on water
Show me Labradorescence

marble: a metamorphic rock created when a certain type of limestone is subjected to tremendous heat and pressure.

massive: used to describe cystals that have no apparent crystal form or are masses of smaller crystals.

metamorphic rock: igneous or sedimentary rocks that have been altered or recrystallized by extreme heat or pressure.

Microcrystalline:

monoclinic system: one of the crystal systems. See Crystal Systems & Forms.
Show me Monoclinic system

opalescence: a reflection of a milky or pearly light from a gem's interior. Sometime used as a synonym for irridescence.

optic character: a stone's property of being either isotropic, uniaxial or biaxial; found by determining how the light travels down crystal axes; common instruments used to determine optic character are polariscope and conoscope

optical interference figure: see interference figure

optic sign: Uniaxial and biaxial gems can be further subdivided as being optically positive or negative. In uniaxial gems, if the refractive index value of the extraordinary ray is greater than the ordinary ray, the gem is positive and visa versa. In a biaxial gem, if the intermediate refractive index value is closer to the higher value, it is positive; if closer to the lower value, negative. Examples: Quartz is uniaxial positive; topaz is biaxial positive.

orthorhombic system: one of the crystal systems. See Crystal Systems & Forms.
Show me Orthorhombic system

pegmatite: an igneous rock, rich in quartz and feldspar with very large grains, indicating slow cooling

phantom crystal: also known as "ghost crystals" occur in quartz when there is an interuption in the growth cycle. It appears like a faint crystal within a crystal

pleochroism: the appearance of more than one color (usually viwed with a dicroscope)as a function of the crystallographic direction one is viewing a gem. It is caused by the selective absorption of the ordinary and extraordinary rays in uniaxial gems (dichroism) and in biaxial gems, the selective absorption in the 3 principal vibrational directions of the crystal (trichroism).

polarized light: light that is vibrating in one direction only. Doubly refractive gems polarize light into 2 rays which travel at right angles to each other.

protogenetic inclusions: inclusions that form BEFORE the gem. The gem crystal traps the inclusion as it grows. Burmese rubies from Mogok, often exhibit protogenic inclusions.

refractive index: The degree that light is bent when it enters a stone. This is measured with a refractometer. Most gems have refractive indices hat range between 1.43 and 1.98. Diamond has a refractive index of 2.42, which means it bends light 2.42 times more than air!

rock: a geological unit made up of one or more minerals. The properties of rocks can vary widely depending on the varying percentages of minerals in their make-up

rough: a gemstone in it's brute state before undergoing cutting or carving
Show me Scapolite rough

schist: a metamorphic rock containing layers of different minerals that can be described as foliated or fissile.

sedimentary rock: rocks composed as the result of weathering and erosion of pre-existing rocks. Wind, water, and frost are able to wear away the highest mountains and the hardest rock masses, redepositing them in lakes, rivers and oceans, where they compact and form new rocks.

selective absorption: property of absorbing a particular selection of the wave lengths of white light as they pass through a stone. If all wavelengths of light pass throug a stone evenly, it apppears colorless. If it absorbs all wavelengths equally, it appears black. If it absorbs certain wavelengths and reflects all others, it will appear opaque and colored. If it absorbs certain wavelengs and transmits all others, it will appear transparent and colored.

single refractive: means that a light ray will pass through a crystal as one ray, not split or polarized; isotropic stones (cubic system) are all singly refractive

spectroscopy, absorption: a technique, using a spectroscope, measuring how much light of a particular wavelength (color) is absorbed by a gemstone. Color is often related to the presence of a particular element. Absorption spectroscopy is an inexpensive way to test for the presence of elelments within a gem.
Show me Spectrum

spot reading method: finding the refractive index of a cabochon cut stone by finding where the light in the refractometer appears as half light/half dark on the reading scale
Show me Spot Reading

strain/interference colors: evidence of internal strain that appears as rainbow-like colors (primarily reds and oranges) under a polariscope

syngenetic inclusions: inclusions that form simultaneously with the gemstone. The gem grows at varying rates, forming enclosed cavitites that can be filled with solids, liquids or gasses or combinations.

synthetics: Man-made gemstones having the same physical and chemical composition as the natural gemstones. Lab grown.

table: the flat top of a faceted stone
Show me Triangular table facet

tetragonal system: one of the crystal systems. See Crystal Systems & Forms.
Show me Tetragonal system

tradename: the name given to a gemstone usually for marketing purposes, ie: tanzanite for ziosite, Tashmarine ™ for diopside, mandarine garnet for spessartite.

trichroic: anisotropic stones that may display three colors are; type of pleocroism

triclinic system: one of the crystal systems. See Crystal Systems & Forms.
Show me Triclinic system

trigonal: one of the crystal systems. See Crystal Systems & Forms.
Show me Trigonal system

twinning: two or more crystals of the same species grow together during the formation period; can interlock or grow from the edge outward. Shows a "venitian blind" effect under magnification

ultraviolet light (UV): energy in wavelength too short to be seen by the human eye, that is beyond the visible violet, measuring 100 to 380 nanometers; some gemstones when exposed to UV emit colors very bright and different from their normal colors; SW UV light is harmful to the eyes so protective goggles should be worn.

uniaxial: the optic character of anisotropic minerals, meaning they have one direction of single refraction: Tetragonal, trigonal and hexagonal crystals are uniaxial.

white light: light consisting of all colors and wavelengths