Crystals and gemstones have long been recognized for their healing powers to reduce stress, support emotional wellbeing, and enhance spiritual epxloration – but how much do we actually understand about them?

mineral crystals can be distinguished from polycrystalline materials by their distinctive symmetry. This quality distinguishes them from ice cubes in your freezer or rocks commonly referred to as quartzite.

Physical

As the starting point, learning about crystals and gemstones begins with understanding their physical properties. Gemologists use these properties as diagnostic tools – some can be easily observed while others require magnifying glasses or microscopes for analysis. Goal of this analysis is to recognize the distinctive forms and habits of mineral crystals, revealing their internal arrangement of atoms that defines their shape and characteristic symmetry. Symmetry can be found throughout nature, from butterfly wings and sunflower petals to whorls and petals of sunflowers and snowflakes, and gemstones with six-sided shapes like snowflakes. When it comes to minerals, their characteristic symmetry reflects their basic crystal structure’s pattern of faces; usually visible even without magnification but for fine details it requires closer observation from a microscope.

Mineral shapes and habits reflect their chemical makeup and bonding mechanism; some minerals are fragile and break easily while others possess rigid crystal structure such as quartz or diamond.

Crystals can form naturally through geological processes or as part of living organisms, with some rare varieties being valued for their beauty or rarity, such as diamonds, sapphires and rubies. Others are thought to possess healing powers while amethyst and opal have long been utilized by humanity as tools or ornaments.

Witnessing the physical properties of gemstones helps distinguish them from synthetic stones that are sometimes sold as natural. Furthermore, gemologists use them to help determine an age and/or type of crystal of a mineral specimen.

Cleavage and Fracture

Some gems feature parallel-strike cracks, known as cleavage cracks, that run parallel with the face of their crystal, that serve as identification tools. Cleavage cracks are most frequently found in feldspars such as sunstone, moonstone and amazonite from cabachon feldspars such as chalcedony which has no such cleavage cracks. Fractures also serve as identification indicators; jadeite has conchoidal fractures while hackly fractures appear with waxy surfaces while hackly fractures appear similar to hackly hackly as seen with nephrite.

Color, lustre and hardness are other key attributes of gemstones. Tourmaline becomes electrically charged when heated – known as pyroelectricity – while amber develops an antimagnetic charge when rubbed against.

Some minerals have other physical characteristics that distinguish them, like Heliodor’s ability to change its hue depending on the angle at which it is observed or Phosgenite’s capacity to attract magnetic metals and chemicals. Meanwhile, other minerals, like Smoky Topaz have unique optical properties while some others such as Natural Opal contain silica vapor which is toxic to cats, leading to respiratory distress; synthetic Opals do not contain silica vapor and thus should never be given to either pets or small children as a gemstone gift! Compared with natural opal, however; however both contain silica vapor so synthetic versions should not contain silica vapor which would make synthetic Opal safer for cats or small children to handle than its counterpart.