Types of Crystal
Overview:
There are many different types of crystals. While the majority of their contents are Silicon Dioxide, the clarity, hardness and weight varies significantly.
Natural Crystal From the Earth
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These crystals are also known as gemstone crystals and are available in what's called semi-precious, precious, and common gem stone crystals. Gems like diamond, ruby, sapphire, topaz, amethyst, citrine, peridot, garnet, tourmaline and aquamarine, were all mined in a crystal form before being cut and polished in to the various gemstone shapes. When you buy a garnet or citrine ring, an amethyst or peridot pendant, you are still buying a natural crystal, only its shape has been altered and polished by the stone cutter know as a lapidary artist. Natural Crystal always has different degree of impurities. The effect of Various Impurities makes each crystal unique and varies from color, hardness, transparence, etc.
Natural Crystal is frequently used by Feng Shui Masters to help bring change - bring in good fortunes and avoid negative energies.
Manufactured Cut Glass Crystal
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Manufactured Crystal is made from Silicon sand through a series of manufacturing process. It is then going through another series of cutting, beveling, polishing to become the end product. Manufactured crystal is transparent and color free with no bubbles or impurities inside.
Crystal's transparency is driven by amount of LEAD additive ... the more Lead (PbO) adds to the crystal, the more transparent it gets, the harder and heavier the crystal become. The balance of the transparency and hardness is settled around 24% of the Lead - which is essentially what Optical Crystal is made of.
How to distinguish between Natural Crystal and Manufactured Crystal
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- Eyeballing: During the formation process, Natural Crystal has often obtained various amount of impurity impacted by the external environment. If you observe it under natural light, you can observe light, irregular shape of semi-transparent material. Every piece of Natural Crystal is unique from this perspective. Manufactured Crystal does have impurity materials inside the crystal, but it happens on a consistent manner with limited variation
- Touch and Feel: If you taste the crystal by tongue, you will always sense some coldness with the natural crystal. The manufactured crystal doesn't have similar effect.
- Reflection: Under the direct sunlight, natural crystal will shine differently at different angles. The manufactured crystal doesn't have similar effect.
- Hardness: Natural crystal is much harder than Manufactured Crystal. You can easily scratch the surface of Manufactured Crystals using the natural crystal. However, the process is not reversible.
Effects of Different Additives on Crystal Colors:
The chemical formula of crystal is SiO2. With the additive of other mineral materials, the crystal will present in various color scheme.
- Green: The addition of Iron (Fe+) ions. Purple can also be caused by the addition of Titanium (Ti+) ion.
- Black: The addition of a mixture of Iron (Fe+), Manganess (Mn+), etc.
- Purple: The addition of Titanium (Ti+) ion, or Iron (Fe+) or a mixture of two.
The Differences between Crystal and Glass:
In essence, crystal is harder, heavier and more transparent when compared with glass materials.
- Transparency: Crystal has a better transparency compared against glass. Glass's reflective rating is 1.4 compared to crystal's 1.6 or higher rating.
- Hardness: Crystal has a mole hardness rating of 6.8 to 7. Glass's hardness rating is 5.5 to 6.
- Density: Crystal's density is about 2.6 gram per cubic centimeters. Glass's density is about 2.2 grams per cubic centimeter.
How to Care for Crystal Glass:
Crystal, regardless of whether it is displayed in a decorative piece for the home or worn as jewelry, is a frail substance. It must be stored and handled with care.
Mouth blown crystal will normally have a few bubbles within the glass, spotting or slight marks on the glass. This is not a flaw but evidence that the crystal has been hand-made inside the furnace.
Optical crystal will normally deviate slightly from the official drawing, the horizontal lines may not be perfectly horizontal and vertical lines may not be perfectly vertical. This is not a flaw but an evidence of manual beveling, polishing processes it went through.
Store your crystal where it won't touch other items. Always store your crystal pieces with right side up. Carry your crystal pieces at a time. Wearing a 100% cotton glove will help ensure the crystal clarity and avoid dirt/oil build-up.