Quartz is the most common mineral on earth. Starting from ordinary sea sand and ending with precious stones that rival diamonds in beauty. The variety of colors and shades of quartz is also impressive. It can be all colors of the rainbow, except maybe blue and green.

Quartz is composed of silicon dioxide and has a crystalline structure. Quartz crystals do not grow along, but across the ore vein, which led to its name, like Quartz - "transverse ore". Pure quartz has no color and is completely transparent. For its resemblance to ice, it was called crystal (crystal - ice). There is also quartz with inclusions of rutile fibers. Such samples are called hairy quartz or simply rutile.

All colored varieties of quartz are considered semi-precious or precious. Quartz includes amethysts, with their stunning purple color, citrines, with unique yellow-golden hues of flowers, rauchtopaz or smoky quartz, rose quartz. And inclusions of fibers create an amazing effect of a cat's eye, in this quartz competes with chrysoberyls, creating such a variety as a tiger's eye. Yellow quartz was confused with topaz for a very long time, and transparent faceted quartz crystals in England are still called Bristol or Cornish diamonds, in America - Alaska or Arkansas diamonds, although such a name can only confuse an ignorant person.

Quartz is given various medicinal properties. Water infused with quartz has healing properties, it can be said that water becomes spring water, because water in natural springs also passes through the layers of quartz.

The different color of quartz is due to the presence of various impurities in the crystal structure - these are iron, magnesium, titanium, aluminum, chromium, copper and their oxides.

The brightness of colors, various forms of cut, the availability of quartz made it one of the favorites of both buyers and jewelers. It is quite hard and resistant to external influences. The density of quartz is 2.65-2.68 g / cm3, and the hardness is 7 Mohs. This means that it cannot be scratched by metal objects and is quite resistant to non-diamond abrasive. Quartz may lose its color or change when heated. Irradiation brings back the brightness of the stone.

In jewelry, quartz is used, processed mainly with a brilliant or step cut. In the form of a cabochon, stones are processed in which it is necessary to reveal the effect of a cat's eye.

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