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 just "brulykami".
However, the question of what is tourmaline sometimes arises after visiting various jewelry stores, so that they play a significant role in educational activities. By the way, we 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 opposite in their properties. More scientifically, this substance is found in nature in the form of several isomorphic series.
The basis of the amazing beauty of tourmaline crystals is silicon oxide, which crystallizes in trigonal syngony. Their color can vary from black to crystal clear varieties.
The surface often resembles glass (due to its characteristic luster), but it is much more pleasant to the touch, since it has a peculiar “silky” structure. Because of this, the question of what tourmaline is often answered is that it is a jewelry item. They, being made from this mineral, are extremely pleasing to the skin.
Jewelers especially appreciate polychrome varieties. These are called tourmaline specimens, in one crystal of which several color zones are combined at once. In addition, its distinguishing feature is hemimorphism, when opposite faces of the crystal are faceted completely differently.
Application
The value of tourmaline is that they have pyro- and piezoelectric qualities, which is why they are widely used in a wide variety of industries. For this purpose, quality colorless crystals that have no defects are most often used.
However, this is much more often the case with cheap products, since opaque tourmaline is much more common in nature, and therefore provides a low cost of equipment in which it is used.
The piezoelectric properties of a stone are related to the fact that its opposite faces can accumulate bipolar charges. This is due to the hemimorphism described above (which is rare in other crystalline materials). It is actively used in electronics, and the largest crystals are especially quoted.
Almost any kind of tourmaline can be used even in complex medical equipment. Together with its low cost, this opens up very broad prospects. And physicians have long discovered their potential in
air ionization, which is due to the same piezoelectric ability.
By the way, with regard to its semiprecious properties. As in the case of diamonds, the distribution of stones for “jewelry” and “technical” is largely based both on their transparency and appearance.
Polychrome varieties are extremely popular for jewelry, while perfectly transparent crystals are quoted by technicians.
Now you know exactly what tourmaline is.