Description and properties of opal

The content of the article

• What is opal?
• Where do they get it?
• Stone characteristics
• Where is used
• Types of Opal
• Precious
• Ordinary
• Fiery
• Play of color
• What zodiac sign is opal suitable for?
• The magical properties of stone
• How to distinguish natural opals from synthetic ones
• Caring for Opal Products

There is a legend that Zeus, having defeated the Titans, burst into tears with delight and happiness. Tears fell, becoming extraordinary minerals that could not be described. The Greeks called them stones that change color (opal). The color of the gems amazed people with their beauty and variety. Jewelers began to make exquisite jewelry and distribute around the world. Soon, people noticed that the mineral affects the life of the owner.

What is opal?

The stone is formed in the ground, volcanic craters, next to the geysers. Water seeps through sand and gravel, impregnates silica particles that collect into cracks. When evaporation occurs, these deposits combine to form opal..

Petrified trees, skeletons of animals are also saturated with groundwater with silica, turning into a beautiful gem.

In fact, natural opal is oxidized silicon and water (12-30%), which do not form a crystal lattice. Raw mineral? not so much a stone as a kind of gel that dries, crackes and dims. Gems are transparent or translucent. The percentage of water affects this indicator..

Where do they get it?

Australia has become a major supplier of precious gem since the 19th century. They discovered an amazing black opal, which conquered the market and became one of the most expensive gemstones. Numerous discoveries of the 20th century brought the country a firm global leadership that has not been disputed for a century.

Opal mining in Mexico also began in the late 19th century. Minerals of bright yellow, orange, and red colors were found here. A series of discoveries from the past century has made Ethiopia a major supplier of precious and fiery gems. Rare varieties of opal were found in Indonesia, Brazil, Peru, and Slovakia. Active mining was carried out in Hungary until the nineteenth century. Then the reserves of stone there were depleted. In the United States, crystals are found in Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Texas..

Stone characteristics

• The hardness of the gem (the ability to leave scratches on the glass) is determined by the Mohs scale at the level of 5.5-6.5 (fragile). It does not wear when worn.
• Soft opal on a porcelain plate leaves a white line. Noble? colorless.
• It is soluble in alkalis. There is water – 13-20%, sometimes – 30%.
• Opal gemstone is characterized by opalescence (rainbow play of color). Gives matte, waxy, pearlescent or glass shine.
• Luminescence is characteristic (luminescence without heat).
• The mineral contains impurities.
• Coloring is represented by a rainbow spectrum.
• Opal does not contain adhesions.
• The gem has a porous structure that breaks down and deforms when dried. Therefore, it is often stained to obtain a smoky mineral. He does not like heating.

Where is used

Opal is a material for earrings, pendants and brooches. These jewelry are not subject to wear during wear. Opal stone is softer and easier to break than most other popular precious minerals..

When used in rings, it is protected from damage by the front panel.

Types of Opal

Two main types are known – noble (precious) and ordinary (semiprecious). The former are distinguished by a “play of color”, a rich tone, different transparency, they are relatively rare. The second – dull, colorless, are common, do not play in color.

95% of the mined minerals are ordinary and plain. The remaining 5% have some color, but 95% of them are of medium quality. Only 0.25% are valuable, come across infrequently. To distinguish gems, they are classified by color and place of extraction.

Precious

It flashes with color tints when viewed at an angle when a stone or light source moves. It ? “Play of color.” The noble opal flashes bright yellow, orange, green, blue, red or purple..

The group includes:

• The black ? expensive dark blue, purple stone with a bright, red color game.
• White – common gem with white, yellow or cream body color.
• Crystal – a transparent or translucent stone that highlights unexpected game shades from the inside when interacting with light.
• Harlequin – transparent, with a polychrome pattern of triangles and circles of red, blue, yellow and green tones that shimmer against the background of “fire”.
• Royal ? the core is bronze or dark red, and on the edges is a bright green border with an unpainted outer zone.
• Heavenly ? colorless mineral, with bluish opalescence.
• Lejos ? resembles a sea wave with carmine and green tints.
• Cat’s (tiger) eye ? rare, expensive stone with a honey or yellow tint, with a strip in the center that looks like the eyes of animals.
• Lunar opal – obtained after processing. In the sun, shimmers with colors of the rainbow spectrum..

Ordinary

Most specimens of opal stone are unpretentious in appearance and do not attract attention. They are not characterized by a play of color, but sometimes they come across unusual, colorful patterns.

The group includes:

• Hyalite – a transparent, colorless, watery, glass-like mineral that forms crusts in the form of a bunch on lichens, tree species or mosses.
• Chrysopalus ? opaque, colored apple green.
• Moss (dendrite) – the picture resembles grass thickets.
• Peruvian ? blue, turquoise, bluish with greens, pink. It is got in Peru.
• Pearl ? milky white mineral with bluish or greenish tints.
• Hydrophan – porous, saturated with water, becomes transparent and plays with color. Aged opals turn into it.
• Woody – saves a drawing of a natural tree.
• Jirazole ? transparent blue or white stone sparkling and shimmering with reddish or blue sparkles.

Fiery

Opal bright golden fire-like color: yellow, orange or red. The stone is expensive and rare, because only a small fraction of the minerals found are used by jewelers.

Gemstone is mined in Mexico, Brazil, the USA or Kazakhstan.

Play of color

Bright feature opal? the ability to refract and reflect color waves of different lengths. The term “opalescence” was coined to describe this phenomenon. The areas within opal that produce the play of color are made up of millions of microscopic silica spheres arranged in an ordered pattern.

Their size is only about 1/2 micron, they act as a diffraction grating. The size of the spheres, their geometric arrangement determine the color and quality of the scattered light. The interaction of these pure light waves gives opal a unique visual appeal, makes it one of the most sought-after gems in the world.

Among the optical effects of opal note iris? internal rainbow color glow on smooth chips of stones and after polishing.

No less beautiful property is asterism. This is the appearance of a star-shaped figure when a chip or crystal cut is illuminated..

What zodiac sign is opal suitable for?

The mineral is considered the stone of October. Useful to everyone, with some nuances:

• Sagittarius, Leo or Aries will be happier if they get a light or blue opal. It will help to weaken the natural fiery flaws, increase determination, determination.
• Gemini, Aquarius or Libra will win if they acquire white or fiery gems. They will bring inner peace, but increase activity. Aquarius benefits from dark blue opals.
• Red and blue-blue gems are suitable for fish and Scorpions. They strengthen natural intuition, bring peace and tranquility to life. Scorpions will receive protection from negativity, they will be able to concentrate better to achieve the goal.
• For Cancers, white opals are preferable, although only they are allowed to wear black stones. With the support of the mineral, Cancers overcome internal fears, worries, improve their financial situation.
• Taurus blue opal will help to find peace, harmony with yourself.
• Virgo and Capricorn fit the fire gem. He will weaken criticality, make him kinder, distract from baseless experiences..

The magical properties of stone

Opal helps to show good qualities in a person. It enhances self-esteem, self-confidence, self-esteem, reveals potential, brings ease and immediacy..

The gem stimulates originality, creativity, interest in art, helps to understand yourself.

Since the gem has reflective properties, it will teach you how to capture thoughts and feelings, strengthen them and bring them back, so opal is considered a talisman.

The gem is associated with love, passion, desire and eroticism. This seductive stone strengthens emotional states, removes inhibitions, but sometimes acts as a stabilizer of feelings.

How to distinguish natural opals from synthetic ones

Natural gems are often faked, instead of them they offer glass, artificial, decorated stones, but the substitution is easy to detect:

• The imitation has a rough “scaly” structure, annoying glare, of the same tone. Opal overflows – smooth.
• The natural gem gives the sun a rainbow of delicate spectrum. Imitation – no.
• Artificial contains air bubbles inside.
• Fake sticks to tongue.
• In dirty or tinted water, opal changes color, for example, blue to straw.
• Natural stones have no zoning, patterns do not repeat.

Caring for Opal Products

A gem will last a long time if taken care of:

• Treat the stone with care to avoid scratches or bumps..
• If the opals become dry, they crack. This phenomenon destroys the value of the gem. The crystal is not left near a heater or in the sun. Sometimes immersed in water for several hours.
• Wash the gem with a soft soapy brush. Then wrapped in a damp cloth or napkin. Dried.
• Decoration with a stone put on when finished makeup.
• Remove the opal before work. He is afraid of chemicals, and in alkali – dissolves.
• They often carry the mineral so that it does not dry out.
• Do not forget that the magical qualities of opal “turn on” when the stone touches the skin.