Artificial ruby: what is it and how to distinguish it from natural stone?

Ruby is the king of gems and the lord of magic, a stone of wealth and power. The symbol of love, beauty, strength and regality, health and love of life is a mineral of mystics and wizards, possessing powerful power and not tolerating lies.

Rubin is a leader in the nomenclatures of especially valuable stones. It is a mineral of exceptional qualities:

• transparent;
• smooth;
• bright;
• lasting;
• heavy.

A possible spectrum of colors characteristic of it is the fiery color of raspberries, red with brownish, yellowish or pinkish hues. The most valuable gem with blue or purple hues, which is called the color "pigeon blood."

The so-called "star" rubies (sapphires) are also known, which can be of almost any color. The impressive six-pointed star, usually located in the central part of the processed gem, looks unusual and bewitching.

Rubies are classified according to shades of red:

• intense, bright;
• typical;
• middle;
• saturated;
• light coloured.

Due to its natural properties, ruby ​​is an expensive gem; individual specimens reach prices of several tens of thousands of dollars. The most valuable ruby ​​weighing 8.62 carats is located in the ring from Bulgari, acquired for £ 3.6 million by London jeweler L. Graff. Truly legendary called the ruby ​​"Black Prince" weighing 170 carats. It was first mentioned in the XIV century as an adornment of the British royal court.

A mineral is a type of corundum with the chemical formula AI2O3. The color difference is determined solely by impurities of chromium compounds. In their hardness, corundums are second only to diamonds (9 on the Mohs scale). When illuminated, they radiate an amazing shine and wonderfully shimmer. In jewelry items, pure, transparent minerals are more often used.

In gemology distinguish minerals:

• natural;
• synthetic;
• artificial.

At the same time, the second, being full analogues of natural stones, are grown in special devices. An artificial mineral is, as a rule, an imitation of a natural mineral with a different chemical composition and physical properties, a kind of resemblance that looks like a stone bestowed by nature.

The color of natural and synthetic gems is determined by the amount of chromium ions. Without it, a stone would be a colorless corundum. Ferrous additives give the mineral brightness.

Their physical properties are identical. Synthetic ruby, as well as its natural fellow, leaves scratches on topaz, quartz, which is typical only for diamond.

The mineral is grown both in crystals and in “bouillons” (cylinders with a pointed end). The synthetic product is of high quality, but often can contain bubbles and inclusions. Gemologist experts distinguish synthetics from a natural mineral using a special device, observing curved growth lines. Natural stone has straight lines of growth. In nature, ruby ​​has a different origin, but is more common in placers.

In fact, a synthetic (hydrothermal) mineral is the same ruby ​​that is formed in laboratories at high temperatures. Cultivation technologies have been worked out so much that it is quite difficult to distinguish analogs from natural stones, but they cost much less. The main feature of synthetic minerals is precisely their impeccability. "Baking" of minerals in laboratory plants at elevated temperatures, produced from a mixture of chromium, iron and corundum, contributes to their defect-free formation.

Natural stones, growing far from ideal conditions, as a rule, have certain flaws.

For the first time, rubies were obtained by M. Gooden in 1837. Around the same time, reconstruction of rubies (Siamese) in the form of fused pieces of natural crystals up to 10 carats in size came into the trade. And although such products, strictly speaking, were not synthetics, interest in them on the market decreased slightly.

The first synthetic minerals were grown by the Frenchman O. Verneil in 1982 by synthesizing crystalline corundum from alumina. The method was immediately put on an industrial basis and production soon spread throughout Europe and other continents. There was a real prospect of similarly synthesizing other minerals.

Of the modern methods for producing high-quality synthetic stones, several are known.

• Verneuil Method. Powdered aluminum trioxide is mixed with chromium. Then the mixture is melted in small parts on a burner. Then, cylindrical single crystals (boules) with a diameter of 2 and a length of up to 30 cm are formed on a ceramic lining.

• Czochralski Method - manufacturing of high quality mineral. Single crystals are obtained by the method of smoothly drawing crystals upward from the surface of a significant amount of the initial melt.

• Zone melting. One type of crystallization in which the starting material is pulled along a heating element in a molybdenum tank.Due to this, crystals are formed in parts along the slow cooling of the melt. The grown crystal is formed in a plate form.

• Method of skull melting. The material melts and crystallizes within its own cold zones. Heating occurs using a high-frequency energy source. When cooled, columnar crystals form.

• Hydrothermal synthesis method. The process of mineral crystallization is carried out in solutions of low-melting compounds (lead, boron and other elements).

One of the oldest Indian legends says that the ruby ​​was washed by the demonic blood of Vala, a glass with which the solar god Surya accidentally dropped into the waters of Bhakarta. So on the coasts of these mysterious waters ruby ​​stars emitting their unique light appeared.

Minerals of different colors are found in Burma, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet. Some rubies are clearly similar in color to blood, others to pomegranate seeds. Qualitatively the best minerals have a uniform color and emit a mysterious glow from the center of the stone.

Ruby is a symbol of power. Strengthening the socio-political rating of the host, the mineral helps to increase its authority. Ruby is a symbol of love that helps and stimulates in people the ability to empathy, sacrifice, altruism, bringing harmony and prosperity to society.

It is believed that it changes color with the approach of dangerous situations. This is a wonderful amulet against damage, the evil eye and enemy machinations. Its magical qualities contribute to the strengthening of characteristic features in a person. However, the mineral “prefers” honest and strong people. The magical power of the stone is used by magicians and sorcerers.

The healing properties of ruby ​​have been used since ancient times. According to lithotherapists, the mineral is useful in healing:

• diseases of the digestive tract;
• the spine;
• ENT diseases;
• paralysis;
• blood diseases;
• hypertension.

The stone is able to strengthen the immune system, eliminate insomnia and depression, improve metabolism. The daily infusion of a stone on water stimulates the regeneration of the skin, body cells, normalizes the patient's condition for colds, and relieves the body of toxins.

The ruby ​​symbolizes the element of Fire, combining perfectly with the zodiacal symbols of Leo, Aries and Sagittarius. Not compatible with signs of water elements (Crayfish and Pisces). However, Scorpio is an exception, since fiery Mars protects it. It should not be worn by Taurus and Virgo. For Capricorn, this is a neutral symbol.

Esotericists believe that ruby talisman protects natural disasters, is able to protect the home from fires. Wearing it is associated with successes in work and in financial activities.

The strong energy of the mineral stimulates a person’s desire to learn new and unknown, expanding the horizons of the possible. The talisman is especially useful for creative people working in the field of intellectual labor, people of science and art.

In ancient times, all red stones were called rubies. However, most of them turned out to be either excellent spinel or grenades and tourmalines. Natural ruby ​​is rare in nature. Mineral trade nomenclatures still often contain the term “ruby,” as a rule, with extensions such as “Ceylon,” “Arizona,” and others. However, these names often hide pomegranate, topaz, spinel or fluorite. Such a “replacement” of names is used to significantly increase the level of demand for relevant products.

Strongly reminiscent of the famous Burmese rubies, red spinel, often found in the same fields.The color of the spinel is also determined by chromium impurities, but it has a different shade - a brick color. A significant difference from ruby ​​is the absence of dichroism (the dependence of color on the direction of light) - in rubies this quality is pronounced. As well as the refractive index (1.72 versus 1.76 for ruby) and the quality of inclusions.

It is also easy to mistake almandine for ruby, which is also distinguished from ruby ​​by its refractive index (checked with a sodium lamp). Red garnet has a specific structure of the absorption spectrum with three stripes in the yellow, green and blue regions. Saturated topaz, pinkish in color, often mistaken for pale Ceylon corundum. In fact, it is sapphire, which differs from rubies in refractive index.

Today, various materials are used in jewelry:

• real minerals;
• imitations of natural stones (fake), which differ from them in composition and properties;
• synthetic minerals, which are almost complete analogues of the present.

You can check the mineral for authenticity both at home and visually in the process of buying a stone.

• You can determine the naturalness of a mineral with a glass of water, dropping a stone into it. If the reddish radiation emanating from the mineral is clearly noticeable, then this is a real ruby.
• Under ordinary lighting, the natural mineral on the sunny side has a special burgundy color, and on the other hand, it is dull pale.
• The authenticity of the mineral can be recognized using cow's milk. If you place a real mineral in a small transparent container, the milk will acquire a pinkish tint. Natural stone emits light intensely.
• It will help to know the true origin of the mineral ultraviolet. Synthetic specimens differ from natural ones in that when they are scintillated with rays, they remain red, and in natural ones bright orange appears.
• You can distinguish a mineral from imitation by the quality of bubble inclusions. When faked, such inclusions are empty, white, and in natural specimens they are filled with reddish gas.
• Unlike natural, on the surface of the artificial mineral, the scratches are straight and glossy, and on the natural - distorted, zigzag.
• Ruby heats up extremely slowly and if you attach it to the body (on the eyelid) and it heats up after a few minutes, then this is synthetics or fake.
• Pass the mineral on the glass, and if there is a scratch on it, then it is a natural stone.
• Counterfeiting from alloys is significantly lighter in weight of a heavy synthetic mineral.
• If the cost of the crystal is extremely low, then most likely you have a mineral of non-natural origin.

You will learn more about artificial ruby ​​from the next video.