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The name moonstone derives from the stone's characteristic visual effect, called adularescence (or schiller), which produces a milky, bluish interior light. This effect is caused by light diffraction through alternating layers of orthoclase and albite within the stone.
Mohs hardness kit, containing one specimen of each mineral on the ten-point hardness scale The Mohs scale ( / m oʊ z / MOHZ ) of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale , from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material.
The Mohs Hardness Scale [25] is a commonly used tool in lapidary to help measure a minerals hardness. A mineral's hardness is measured by seeing how easily scratched it is, and what other minerals on the Mohs Hardness scale can scratch it. This tool is helpful in indicating what different lapidary methods should be used on the material.
Lapis lazuli (UK: / ˌ l æ p ɪ s ˈ l æ z (j) ʊ l i, ˈ l æ ʒ ʊ-,-ˌ l i /; US: / ˈ l æ z (j) ə l i, ˈ l æ ʒ ə-,-ˌ l i /), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
Lazurite is a pigment (opalescent) and has a bright blue streak (especially as a component of the semiprecious stone lapis lazuli). Many hauynes have a white or pale blue streak and are translucent. Many hauynes have a white or pale blue streak and are translucent.
The name sapphire is derived from the Latin word sapphirus, itself from the Greek word sappheiros (σάπφειρος), which referred to lapis lazuli. [2] It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors.
Unpolished sunstone. The optical effect is due to reflections from inclusions of red copper, hematite, or goethite, in the form of minute scales, which are hexagonal, rhombic, or irregular in shape, and are disposed parallel to the principal cleavage-plane.
Belomorite (Russian: Беломори́т — from the toponym), [2] sometimes peristerite or moonstone, also murchisonite, Ceylon opal, hecatolite — a decorative variety of albite of white or light gray color with a distinct iridescence effect.