What is a Crystal?

In the movie "A Few Good Men", when Jack Nicholson asked Tom Cruise, "Are we clear?" he replied "Crystal". What this means is that his insight is as clear as crystal. So in general, the word crystal refers to a large extent, clarity. The word crystal is defined as transparent quartz occurring in nature. It is whether colorless or slightly tinged. The unique molecular buildings in crystal gives that arrangement and pattern extending in varied symmetrical and three spatial dimension solid.

There are basically seven types of crystal forms (ref. GemologyOnline.com). The following describes each law and natural minerals in which the crystal law can be found. The axes used here refer to the formation of a solid body with one cross center.

Turquoise

1. Cubic - Isometric

The cube is composed of 6 quadrate faces at 90 degree angles to each other. Each face intersects one of the crystallographic axes and is parallel to the other two. This law is also called isometric with 3 perpendicularly right angular intersected lines. The center of the intersection is equi-distant to the end of each line. The ends of each line (there are six) will form that cube. Diamond, Garnet, Rhodolite and Spinel all have this crystal form.

2. Tetragonal

The tetragonal law also has three axes that all meet at 90°. It differs from the isometric law in that the perpendicular axis is longer than the two horizontal axes which are the same length. Zircon has this crystal form.

3. Hexagonal

In the hexagonal law we have further axes, which give the crystals six sides. Three of these are equal in length and meet at 60° to each other. The C or vertical axis is at 90° to the shorter axes. Mineralogists sometimes divide this into two systems, the hexagonal and the trigonal, based on their external appearances. The hexagonal buildings can found in aquamarine, benitoite, beryl, emerald, heliodor and morganite.

4. Trigonal

Again, the trigonal law is a subsystem of the hexagonal. Most gem references will list these as hexagonal. The popular minerals with this crystal form consist of amethyst, citrine corundum, ruby, sapphire, tourmaline, eudialyte and quartz.

5. Orthorhombic

In this law there are three axes, all of which meet at 90° to each other. However, all the axes are a dissimilar length. This crystal law can be found in alexandrite, andalusite, chrysoberyl, Iolite, peridot, tanzanite, topaz and varisite.

6. Monoclinic

The above crystal systems all have axes sides that meet at 90°. In the monoclinic law all the axes are dissimilar lengths. Two of the axes meet at 90°, but the third one does not. Monoclinic crystal buildings can be found in azurite, diopside, feldspar, kunzite and nephrite.

7. Triclinic

In this law all the axes are dissimilar lengths and none of them meet at 90°. Turquoise has this crystal structure.

In the real world, natural crystal was a rarity to begin with, and now has become even rarer through human excavation. Therefore the crystal we have today is of course a man-made glass product. As the technology of glass manufacturing advances, crystals of varied sizes and shapes can be produced with a very high degree of clarity and light refraction as analogues to isometric patterns in the natural crystal.

Today's crystal is basically made by the same processes used in production other glass products. The recipe may vary in order to produce high transparent visual glass which is what most of the crystals are made of. Also the tool may differ due to the fact that production crystal requires larger blocks of molten glass. Most importantly, the down stream machining of the glass blocks is highly important and technically demanding. It takes many dissimilar types of cutting, beveling, lathing, grinding, and polishing to achieve the desired isometric shape. We of course must appreciate the crystal awards that are available and we enjoy today. They are product of a aggregate of high end technology as well as fine craftsmanship.

What is a Crystal?

Thanks To : The Bests Rings