What Are Rubies And Sapphires Made Of

A ruby is a pink to blood red coloured gemstone a variety of the mineral corundum aluminium oxide.

What are rubies and sapphires made of.

Trace elements produce their colors. It is used to make grinding wheels emery paper and abrasive powders used for grinding and polishing. Sapphires and rubies are used in jewellery and ornaments because of their attractive colours. King phd gia graduate gemologist rubies.

Gifts from the earth. Sapphire is a precious gemstone a variety of the mineral corundum consisting of aluminum oxide α al2o3 with trace amounts of elements such as iron titanium chromium vanadium or magnesium. Corundum with different trace minerals creating a wide variety of color. The hardness of corundum also makes it a great material for industrial abrasives.

These are the blue gemstones most often seen in jewelry with colors ranging from pale ice blue to deep cobalt blue but did you know that sapphires also come in other colors. Aluminum oxide as it is known in mineralogy circles is formed by both volcanic processes deep in the earth and the high pressure and temperature conditions of metamorphic. Sapphires and rubies the word sapphire comes from the greek saapherios which means blue. They were named long before anyone realized.

Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems together with amethyst sapphire emerald and diamond 3 the word ruby comes from ruber latin for red. Rubies and sapphires have been treasured for thousands of years. The answer as to what took place inside the earth to form these gems and then transport them to the surface varies from country to country but the story remains the same. The most desired variety of corundum is the ruby.

Other varieties of gem quality corundum are called sapphires. The color of a ruby is due to. Big color diamonds are rarer which explains why they are much more expensive. Ruby and sapphire red corundums are rubies.

Additionally diamonds are generally smaller than other colored stones. Rubies and sapphires are the most important colored gemstones in the gem trade together accounting for over 50 of global gem production. The main deposits of high quality sapphires and rubies are found only in a few places mainly southern asia and eastern africa and the islands of sri lanka ceylon and madagascar. It is typically blue but natural fancy sapphires also occur in yellow purple orange and green colors.

Rubies and sapphires are the same mineral. The most desired variety of corundum is the ruby. 1 rubies are far less abundant than blue sapphires of similar quality and thus are of more value. Rubies sapphires and emeralds the first obvious fact one can notice at first sight is that colored diamonds are always shinier than other colored stones.