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Extra Credit Event



This afternoon I went to visit the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. There were so many interesting exhibits to look at, but the one that really stood out to me with its intersection of science and art, was the gemstone exhibit. This room was MASSIVE with so many different stones and jewels in every size. Apparently it held over 2,000 specimens that were found from all over the world (Van Pelt 2010). They came from all over the world and the spectrum of colors was unbelievable. It was so cool to look at all of the different kinds of stone in their natural form, but then also see how people had made them into jewelry and art pieces.

In the museum gift shop there were so many intricate knick-knacks and art pieces made from beautiful gemstones. There were old necklaces and teacup sets on display, but also art decorations that visitors could buy carved beautifully by artists into different figurines.
              











People have treasured gemstones with their beautiful color and shape for thousands of years. The reason that they are so expensive is due to how rare they are and how high the demand is for them. One of my favorites is topaz, which is shown down below on exhibit in the museum. Although most topaz is colorless, some can be a pale yellow, orange, brown, green, gray, or blue like this. Scientists have found that the sky blue hue is from, “Hydroxyl substituting for oxygen anions at fluorine sites prior to irradiation” (Groat 2017).  Some of the reddish colors are from chromium, manganese and iron substitution for aluminum (Groat 2017). It’s very interesting to me how scientists are able to figure out what exactly causes the different shades of colors in gemstones.

Because scientists have been able to study the chemical formula and atomic structure of gems, they have recently been able to duplicate gemstones in the recent development of synthetic gemstones. So far sapphire, ruby, emerald, diamond, and spinel are among the most popular being made, three of which can be seen in the photo below.

Intrigued by what people thought of “lab-grown diamonds” I researched some more on this topic and found an article interviewing the first store selling synthetic diamonds in the diamond district. The owner Baruch says, “There’s no way to look at it and know it’s not natural, not with the naked eye, not with a loupe, and not with a standard microscope. Only special technology can tell the difference” (Lieber 2016).

The art of making diamonds in a lab began over a century ago, but only recently was it perfected. Once Antoine Lavoisier discovered the diamonds were made from a crystalline form of carbon that was applied with an extreme amount of pressure, then Physical chemist H. Tracey Hall figured out how to create diamonds by heating carbon to an incredible 5,000 degrees and using a heavy hydraulic press to put a ton of pressure on the carbon (Lieber 2016).  Seeing the evolution from something so natural and prized for thousands of years to something grown in a lab is quite remarkable and a true testament to the talent of scientists.


Works Cited
Groat, Lee. “Gemstones.” American Scientist, 17 May 2017, www.americanscientist.org/article/gemstones.
Lieber, Chavie. “A Lab-Grown Diamond Is Forever.” Racked, 14 June 2016, www.racked.com/2016/6/14/11872830/lab-grown-diamonds-synthetic.
Van Pelt, Erica. “Gems and Minerals.” Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 14 June 2010, nhm.org/site/explore-exhibits/permanent-exhibits/gems-minerals.

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