How and why do pearls and turquoise "die"? Where in Ukraine are there deposits of precious stones and what does the rocket industry have to do with it? What precious material originating from modern Afghanistan was found in Tutankhamun's tomb? What imitations of precious stones exist and why is there demand for them? All this and much more was told on the air of the popular science podcast "Main Observatory" by junior research fellow of the geology department of the National Scientific Natural History Museum of the NAS of Ukraine, Yevhen Naumenko.
The scientist explained that, for example, diamonds (which in skilled hands are transformed into diamonds) are found very often in nature compared to most other precious stones. But strangely, this does not make them cheap and accessible. On the other hand, there is a precious mineral called tanzanite. It is mined worldwide in only one deposit (in Tanzania). But this does not make it exorbitantly expensive.
Yevhen Naumenko also explained why minerals become precious at all: in the vast majority of cases, there are quite objective physical and chemical properties for this, which can be measured with special instruments, in particular, luster and hardness. The latter is measured by the well-known Mohs scale, where "1" is talc and "10" is diamond. All other minerals—whether precious or not—are located somewhere between them. But the difference between "9" and "10" on this scale is incomparably greater than between "1" and "2".
Some artificial stones have been produced on an industrial scale for over a hundred years. Such progress in this field is due to the fact that precious minerals are used not only in jewelry but also in technology. Moreover, this is not only about diamonds with their exceptional hardness.
Listen to the full audio recording of the interview
Source: popular science podcast "Main Observatory"