JennyW I-Search

Posted by JENNY_W, 4/29/03 at 12:39:55 PM.

The Story of Gems

Jenny W

May 22, 2003

Language Arts, 6

Ms. Turnbull

Introduction

     Stones, gems, jewels, call it whatever you want. For ages people have been awed by its beauty and even once in a while been cheated by its fakes. Doesn't sound interesting? How about birthstones for the youngsters? I'm sure that will strike some interest. You see I'm Jenny Wu and I've wrote a fairly good report on gems here if I do say so myself. In this report you will find out...well let's not ruin it for you. Just read on to find out more.  Great introduction!

How can you tell the difference between real and fake gems?

     Synthetic stones have air bubbles, which, when there are a lot, causes a cloudy appearance. Another way is by looking at their unnatural color and don't forget the old trick, if the "diamond" can scratch glass. There are sometimes gems that have had gem treatment, meaning to make it more pleasing to the naked eye. Treatments such as fracture filling and clarity enhancement must be disclosed by the seller, since they can't be recognized. Even if over time the gem will break down revealing the cheap stone it is, most buyers are fooled into thinking that it was actually themselves who broke the gem. Most gemologists like the refractive index way of identifing an unknown gem. This is not a sentence--you must have forgotten some part of the thought you meant to write down.   Basically, the refractive index is a ratio that compares the speed of light in air versus the speed of light in the gemstone. The equation into deciphering it is:

RI = Velocity of light in air / velocity of light in the gemstone

As the speed of light in the gem goes down, the refractive index goes up. Don't worry your head about this stuff yet, just leave it all to gemologists. Even my head hurt when I typed all this down. Just stick to the diamond versus glass trick for now or you can use the good old trusty microscope if you ever want to tell the difference from real or fake stones.

How can you make artifical gems?

     Synthetic stones are made in the laboratory with the same chemical elements as natural stones. Among the synthetic gems produced artificially are rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. Colors are produced in diamonds by exposing them to radioactive "light". Doublets (a kind of fake stones) are made by combining the upper part, which is a thin slice of either the true stone or some hard gem, with a lower part of a real stone, a substitute stone, colored glass, or colored paste. Triplets (another kind of fake stones) generally consist of a layer of paste, or glass, between two genuine(real) stones of poor color. Paste (glass) gems usually contain lead and are very soft and they will lose their brilliance and color sooner or later. Imitation pearls are actually glass or plastic beads coated with a mixture made from fish scales. A cultured pearl (another kind of fake pearl) is made by inserting a small bead inside the oyster. The irritation causes the oyster to deposit pearly material on the bead, making it look like a real pearl.

How are jewels made/cut?

     People cut gems to bring out the natural color, brilliancy, and to remove mistakes. In a cabochon cut, the top is rounded or smoothed into a simple curve while the bottom is either flat,or curved inward or outward. In a table cut, the natural octahedron of a diamond are grounded to smoothness and polished, in this cut the top is bigger than the bottom. A rose cut has a flat bottom and this cut is to bring out the brilliancy of the stone. Other than cuts there are also tool names. Such as a slab saw, about 16 to 24 inches in diameter, used to cut stones of several inches thickness into relatively thin slabs (often 1/8 to 3/8 inch thick). A trim saw, typically 6 to 10 inches in diameter, is used to cut smaller stones into thin slabs or to cut small sections out of slabs. A faceter's trim saw, typically 4 inches in diameter, is used with a very thin blade, to saw small pieces of expensive rough (unpolished or cut gems). Gems are also grinded, sanded, lapped (smiliar to sanding and grinding), drilled, tumbled (washed with water in a large slow-moving wheel), inlaid (cut to fit in hollow notches in metal, wood, etc), and sculpt like any sculpture.

 A faceted stone.

How did people use birthstones in superstition?

     Birthstones were invented because of superstition. It was said that the garnet, stone of January, ensured victories and were used to protect against injuries during a battle or war. Red garnets have also been associated with blood purification. They were believed to protect against food poisoning, snake bite, and hemorrhage as well. Next is amethyst, stone of Febuary, (missing word) was believed to help protect the wearer from intoxication. The gemstone symbolizes peace and tranquility (calm). Aquamarines, stone of March, are said to protect sailors while they are at sea. They were also worn to prevent seasickness and other types of stomach aches. Some ancient cultures associated diamonds, April, with lightning bolts, believing they were formed when lightning struck the earth. They are a symbol of courage and true love. Some cultures believed that emeralds, May, gave the wearer psychic powers. They were thought to improve one's eyesight. As for June there was the pearl. To different cultures pearls have symbolized modesty, chastity, power, and courage. Rubies, July, were believed to make the wearer wise, to help with love, and help protect against all sorts of misfortunes. Peridots, August, are one of the oldest known gemstones. They have traditionally been a symbol that represents the sun and gave protection from nightmares. Ancient priests believed sapphires, my birthstone September, helped them predict the future. The gem is associated with peace and happiness. Opals, October, have long been a symbol of innocence and purity. Topaz, November, was thought to calm tempers and give strength. Powders ground from the stone were used to cure asthma and insomnia. Now finally the turquoise. Native Americans associated the colors of turquoise with the blue sky and green earth. The believed the gem turquoise brought its wearer happiness and security.  

MONTH	Ancient	Modern
January	Garnet	Garnet
February	Amethyst	Amethyst
March	Jasper	Bloodstone or Aquamarine
April	Sapphire	Diamond
May	Agate	Emerald
June	Emerald	Pearl, Moonstone, or Alexandrite
July	Onyx	Ruby
August	Carnelian	Sardonyx or Peridot
September	Chrysolite	Sapphire
October	Aquamarine	Opal or Tourmaline
November	Topaz	Topaz
December	Ruby	Turquoise or Zircon

How are gems distinguished? 

     Gems are rated by their beauty, rarity, and durability, and most important optical properties: luster, fire, and color.   Durability depends on hardness or resistence to fracture or being cut. The difference between each stone is based on the way it's cut (even, or uneven), the form of the crystal, the color when light is shined throuh, color of the powder after rubbing on white unglazed porcelain, appearance when light is shined on the surface (silky, greasy, pearly, etc.) and ablity to see through the stone. Other ways to identify stones are:when light is added to see if a stone change color, does it sparkle, is there a play of light, or can it conduct electricity (electrical properties). There are also three optical properties of gems. Isotropic: material always remains dark under cross polarized light Anisotropic: light passes through the crystal as it is rotated under crossed polars. If, as it is rotated about one specific axis (only), the crystal remains dark, then the gem is termed "uniaxial." If two specific axes can be found where the crystal remains dark while rotated between two crossed polars, the crystal is termed "biaxial." Gems are classified firstly on isotropic, uniaxial, or biaxial categories, and then into more specific crystal systems. The unit weight of gems are measured in carats, 1 carat is 200 mg. 

Closing

     Finished with my report already? Well, I hope you liked it since it took me a long, long time to finish but I still love the feeling of acomplishment. Can you believe all the ways to make fake gems? While reading about all those scams I almost ran home to crack some some jewel to see if it was just some cheap stone. You know, I learned a lot and I hope you did too after reading my report. So next time if someone asks you about gems, you better not just say something like, "Diamonds are pretty", tell them about fake diamonds that are made of calcite or about some birthstone folklore. Man, I'm just glad I finished but I can't help being proud of my report. 

Bibliography

"Gem." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. : Columbia University Press , 2000. p15083

"Lapis Lazuli." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. : Columbia University Press , 2000. p22110.

"Birthstone Gems." Kids Discover. Vol. 12. : Kids Discover , 2002. p16(2)

"Gemstones Are Forever." Kids Discover. Vol. 12. : Kids Discover , 2002. p8(2) .

Wiclell, Carly Rebecca. "Birthstones-Birthstone Jewelry."8 April. 2003 http://jewelry.about.com/library/weekly/aa041602d.htm.

"Gemstones, Crystals, Minerals, Precious Metals in Jewelry, Mythology, History." . 1999. Albuquerque 505 Wholesale Jewelry. 8 April. 2003 http://www.jewelrysupplier.com/.

Marc Airhart, Deborah Byrd, Shireen Gonzaga. "Birthstones." Earth & Sky June, 1999. 8 April 2003 http://www.earthsky.com/Features/Articles/birthstones.html.

"Problems: Explore Your New Found Knowledge of Gems."8 April 2003 http://www.stanford.edu/dept/sme/eeaacp/problem.html.

"How are Gems Cut and Polished?." . 2 January 1999. . Tradeshop Inc.. 8 April 2003 http://www.tradeshop.com/gems/howcut.html. 

I-Search Journal

Posted by JENNY_W, 2/25/03 at 12:49:27 PM.

2/21/03

Today I went to the SFPL Database and found some info on optical art. I also went to SFPL Catalog and copyed some book names. At the end of the period however I decided to forget about optical art but there was no more time so I'm going to wait until next time. It was really anoying that there weren't  really a lot of info about optical art's orgins.  

2/25/03

Today I changed my topic from optical art to gems. I went to SFPL database and found some great info. The 5 IQs were so easy it only took me less than 5 minutes. Gems would be an easy and interesting topic for I-Search.

2/27/03

I think the library link has a bug. It kept showing me this page that says something like-...sorry we can't find the page, try pressing the refresh buttom. That was really annoying and frustrating because the same thing happen when I tried going to InfoTrac-KidsEdition. The good news is that I finally gotten all the bibliography stuff.

3/6/03

I didn't do much today because I had so much articles and I was missing a partner. It took forever just to write a few sentences about gems. I think I'm going to be busy tonight working on finishing this. I think I finally finished, but I'm not sure if it's enough. I hope I don't get in trouble if it's not enough.

          3/10/03

Just found out that I needed more details and I decided to summarize the other few paragraphs that I had problems understanding. Things were going smoothly until Ms.Turnbull came and paired me off with Brian. I didn't get much done but Ms.Turnbull will give me more time. I also hope that I won't ever have to work withe Brian no more.

3/11/03

Finally finished doing the read-pause-tell thing and I was happy with the work. Also I changed my 5IQs because of the print sources I got. Not really much to tell but I'm looking forward to looking for internet sources.

3/13/03

Today I copyed the checklist onto my namepage and started to find some internet sources. Good news is that I found a great website about birthstones. Bad news is that that was the only one I found. Every-thing was just so not right and beside the searching thing keeps on showing me jewelry shops instead. Well seems like I'm going to have to work more than I expected.

3/18/03

Finished looking for internet sources and ready for next part of assignment. However I still must complain about the google search. No matter what I type there is always links that go to jewel shops. I mean there is about two hundred thousand links and more than half of the links goes to jewel shops. It was hard but I finally found at least four links that were just about gems facts and not trying to sell them.

3/25/03

Today I did nothing. I tried getting more print sources by going to InfoTracKidsEdition but the computer kept showing me "cannot find server" window. I even had trouble just to get into my student page. The com-puters today are terrible. Some people can't even post changes. I hope this won't happen with this journal because I don't think I'm ready to type all this again.

3/26/03

Had a long lesson today so once again I hardly did anything. However I did restate some of my notes more. I wrote synonyms for some words and made the Read-Pause-Retell paragraphs shorter. I think I'm going to have to bring a dictionary tomorrow because I just notice that there were many words I didn't understand. Well that's it for today.

3/28/03

Today I got a new set of notes from InfoTracKid-Edition. I know for sure  that tomorrow I'm going do a lot of typing. The InfoTracKidsEdition still has a problem. It still shows me "cannot find server" window but I found a way around it and I'm not telling you about it. Today was definitely a progressive day.

4/4/03

Finished Read-Pause-Retell on my fourth print souce. I was done so early that I was staring into space for quite a while. Well there isn't much to say but I'm ready for when Ms.Turnbull comes and check my work. Ather all I do have seven sources all together and I'm not trying to brag.

4/7/03

Today nothing happen except I cited one, only one source. There was my old enemy the "cannot find server" window popping up all over my work. Trouble started when I didn't understand today's aim and then I completely wasted my time citing everything wrong. Finally to top things of my mind kept wondering off towards Viven and Brian's conversation. I eavsdrop to much.

4/8/03

Finished bibliography today and started to look for visual aids. I found a gem gallery online and I found a lot of good pictures of diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, you name it. I was copying pictures happily when it was time to write in my journal. I post changes and guess what? The stupid "cannot find server" window pop up. About twenty pictures were lost. You don't know the feeling when you work really hard on something and then it all dissapears.

4/9/03

Today you were suppose to find a person to interview and I found Hanna. She is a gemologist who visited a school all about gems in Japan. Also I got back the diamond pictures I lost yesterday. Looks like my I-Search project isn't going down the drain no more.

4/23/03

Long time no write! Today I came up with some great interview questions. However they kept on dissappearing because of that "cannot find server" window. It seem like everytime something goes wrong it is that window fault. At least I got the questions done today.

4/24/03

Today was confusing and the work were all diffcult. We were suppose to write better citation for our bibliography but mine were confusing. The reason is because my article seem to have some extra  bibliography. So... when I went to that site with all the citing methods I didn't know whether I should use the encyclepedia publish date or the other one.

4/29/03

Today we were coping the map of an I-Search project. While I was trying to answer my first IQ I found out that I didn't really have a lot of information on that particular question. So... tommorrow I'm going to have to go online and do some more researching. Sorry about babbling but I need the journal entry to be long.

4/30/03

Only have little time before next period so don't mind the quick short sentences. Today I answered two of my IQs already and I'm pretty confident in my work now. Luckily I thought of a different IQ so I don't have to worry about research for more sources online. Only a minute of class left!

5/6/03

Today I wrote a really interesting introduction. Then I continued on writing answers for my IQs. You can say I made great progress. Well that was all that happen so until tomorrow I don't have anything else to write. You can also say today was actually a quite boring day.

5/7/03

I finally finished answering my IQs today. Also, remember the IQ I got that I didn't have enough information on? Well, today I finally got around to searching for more information on google. You can't believe all ways jewel sellers try to trick buyers.(see IQ:1) I'm not finish looking for sources but I be done soon enough.

5/12/03

Just five minutes left so I'm going to make this entry snappy. I'm not really happy with the answers paragraphs for my IQs. I think I'm afraid they're too short. However searching on google haven't really help at all so I was thinking about going to InfoTrac but I don't really feel like doing the bibliography. Come to think of it I still have to write bibliography for the new internet sources I got. Is there no end to this work?

5/15/03

All I need now it my conclusion, which is right now with Ms.Carol, our student teacher. As soon as I get that conclusion I can finish my rough draft of my I-Search report. That means that I'm done with my IQs and I made the journal and bibliography link. I also got the introduction done and I even have the title with an image. So just give me the conclusion and I'll be ready for the revision conference.

5/16/03

I was about to do my conclusion today but then Viven started fixing her bibliography I felt that my bibliograpy need fixing too. Dropping in the middle a sentence I went to my bibliography page. Then I opened a new window and went to NoodleTools. There I fixed my encyclepedia article citing. I was about to fix my internet ones but I got to write in my journal.

5/19/03

Today I finished my I-Search report. Which was a surprise since Cindy kept bothering me. When I finally typed the last sentence in my closing Alina and I swapped computers. I was revising hers on her computer and she was doing the same on my computer. I answered two of her questions so at least I'm getting somewhere.

5/21/03

Oh yeah! I'm done with the revision conference. Now all I have to do is wait for Ms.Turnbull to proofread my report and hello my A! Time to go! Write as soon as I can.