What is tourmaline, and where is it used?

In the bowels of our planet there is a huge amount of both precious and semiprecious stones, the use of which is not limited to "brilicles" alone.

However, the question of what is tourmaline,sometimes it occurs after visiting various jewelry stores, so that they play a significant role in educational activities. By the way, we will consider the origin and features of this material in more detail.

Description

So, what is tourmaline? It is a mineral from the class of ring silicates. More precisely, a group of minerals, since among them there are varieties almost the opposite in their properties. Speaking more scientifically, this substance in nature occurs in the form of several isomorphic series.

At the heart of the amazing beauty of the crystals of tourmaline lies silicon oxide, which crystallizes in the trigonal system. Their color can range from black to completely transparent varieties.

The surface often resembles glass (because ofcharacteristic shine), but the touch is much more pleasant than it, since it has a peculiar "silky" structure. Because of this, when asked about what tourmaline is, they often reply that it is a piece of jewelry. They, being made from this mineral, are extremely pleasant to the skin.

Jewelers especially appreciate polychrome varieties. So called samples of tourmaline, in one crystal which combines several color zones. In addition, its distinctive feature is hemimorphism, when the opposite faces of the crystal are cut completely differently.

Application

The value of tourmalines is that they possess pyro-and piezoelectric qualities, which is why they are widely used in a wide variety of industries. For this purpose, colorless crystals are most often used, which have no defects.

However, this is much more often relates to cheapproducts, since opaque tourmaline is much more common in nature, and therefore provides a low cost of equipment in which it is applied.

The piezoelectric properties of a stone are related to the fact,that its opposite faces can accumulate multipolar charges. This is due to the hemimorphism described above (which is rare in other crystalline materials). It is actively used in electronics, and especially the largest crystals are listed.

Virtually any kind of tourmaline canbe used even in complex medical equipment. Coupled with its small cost, this opens up very broad prospects. And physicians have long discovered its potential in ionization of air, which is due to the same piezoelectric power.

By the way, as for his semiprecious properties. As in the case of diamonds, the distribution of stones for "jewelry" and "technical" is largely based on both their transparency and appearance.

Polychrome varieties are in great demand precisely for ornaments, while perfectly transparent crystals are quoted by technicians.

Now you know exactly what tourmaline is.