EOSC 118 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Lightning, Mineralogy, Calcite
Document Summary
Common tools used by gemologists, mineralogists, and geoscientists to test and reveal the properties of gems, minerals and rocks. You might also notice that each of these different types of person will be looking for different types of information and will therefore use a certain suite of tools to obtain that information. Basic tools: unaided eye: immediate information about colour of stone; estimate dispersion, observe crystal habits fractures, cleavage and identify characteristics inclusions and associated mineral. Use the hand lense and magnifying glass as a boost: tweezers: oil/sweat from hand can alter the optical properties of the items at hand. Gemstone specific tweezers are adapted to include textured tips (grasping), small groves along the ends of the tips (better grip) and looking mechanisms (don"t drop shit). If not, it will stratch the plate and in these situations, pencils with materials of certain hardness are available that can be used to determine the range of hardness of the unknown material.
