Tuesday, October 20, 2009

jewlery

did you guys know that all the colors in different gemstones are because of chemistry? It's all because of impurities! Usually these are transition metals that don't normally belong. For example, everyone loves a Ruby. The actually chemical formula for Ruby is Aluminum Oxide (Conondrum) which is an ugly dark brown. However, if a little bit of Chromium gets into the chemical bond it becomes a beautiful Ruby color. Look up other gemstones and figure out the transition metal impurity.
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2 comments:

  1. RamosOctober 20, 2009 at 12:57 PM

    Dr. Ranen, THAT IS SO COOL! does this mean we can make jewels during class?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 20, 2009 at 5:33 PM

    The Hope Diamond is blue because for every one million carbon atoms there is one atom of boron.

    ReplyDelete

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