Tuesday, July 23, 2013

De-Fluffing Minerals: Quartz (Crystals).

The Second Most Common Mineral On Earth, 
And They Expect You To Pay How Much For It?

Quartz Crystal is a naturally occurring mineral with an impressive range of colors and inclusions. It is the second most common mineral on Earth, with the chemical formula SiO2 (Silicon Di-Oxide).  On a chemical level Quartz is identical to glass, being that glass is made out of sand, and sand is what happens to quartz when the earth does it’s normal, brutal, routine on it. The only real difference is the fracture pattern, and some places have begun faking exceptional quartz "specimens" with cut, polished, glass.

The major categories are Macrocrystalline (Crystals) and Microcrystalline/Cryptocrystalline (Masses). Dozens upon dozens of other minerals are technically nothing more than Crypto Quartz with an inclusion or impurity composed of another mineral.

Macrocrystalline Quartz also comes in a bajillion formations (often called “configurations") which are said to subtly alter the “energy" of the crystal and may include other mineral types (as above) rendering a lot of data and types and far more waffling and wall-feeling on the matter. Right now, I have balanced on my knee a gigantic mofo of a book (hint: It’s purple) with 80 pages dedicated simply to “quartz" (macrocrystalline). Lots of waffling.