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Researched by Emma S. |
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Introduction – Why I Chose This Topic
I chose
this topic because I was interested in growing crystals. I also like
birthstones and thought it would be interesting to study emeralds
because I have a stuffed animal turtle named Emerald. Also, the
emerald is my birthstone. When I researched my report, I wanted
to learn how crystals and gems were made.
Research Summary
History
Most
gems are formed really slowly (hundreds or thousands of years ago).
There are some gems that just finished forming but they started forming
a long time ago. The most important people in the past in Geology were
people who thought of new ideas. Geology became important to people two
hundred years ago and that is not a long time ago for people to just
start caring about geology.
What are crystals and gems?
Crystals
and gems can be found almost everywhere in the world. Technically all
rocks are crystals because geologists say a crystal is any solid which
is naturally occurring that is made of molecules which are put together
in a organized, repeating pattern (a crystalline pattern). So crystals
are all over the place. But gems are not. Gems are crystals
which are very hard to find and are pretty. Gems are becoming
more expensive because they are rare.
Crystals
Not
all crystals are not birthstones, but all gems are crystals and some
minerals are considered crystals. You can find crystals up in the
mountains where you mine. Crystals are useful. They can be used
for Jewelry and decoration. Quartz is clear the most common
colored gem and blue is the least. Crystals are lots of different
shapes like they can be a hexagon or any other shape. People think
crystals are really rare. Crystals are really pretty and they sparkle
when they are in the light. Crystals are a lot like diamonds. Mostly
everybody thinks crystals are not like birthstones when they hear that
they are not a birthstone. But that is not true because birthstones,
gems and minerals are considered crystals. So crystals are pretty
special because they can be as simple as salt or as complete as a
diamond. There is also a new stone called sunstone. They just found it
and they don’t know where it came from.
Gems
A
gem is a crystal which is rare, and is usually used for jewelry and
decoration. Gems are formed naturally in the earth. They grow on
the earth and the earth is also made up of them. Some gems are called
birthstones and they are sparkly and have a pretty color. We are lucky
we have gems in our life because they make life sparkle.
Birthstones
Birthstones
are gems and there is one birthstone for each month of the year. For
example, emeralds are in the month of may. Rubies are in the month of
July. Sapphire is in the month of September. Aquamarine is in the month
of March. Pearl is in April. All birthstones sparkle in the light. They
can be used for jewelry and decoration. Ruby is the only color that is
red and none of them are brown. Emeralds are a rare birthstone, but
diamonds, which are another birthstone, are even harder to find so they
are more expensive. You can find all of these in stores or up in
mountains where you mine.
Quartz (clear crystals that look like glass)
Quartz
is a type of crystal that looks like glass. Most people who look at
Quartz call them crystals but crystals include a lot more than just
quartz.
Shapes
They are all different shapes. Some of
them are not even a shape. They might have points in random
places. The might be a triangle or a square. Diamonds are the
sharpest gem because they have a sharp point at the end and they are
solid. It is very uncommon for there to be a circle gem.
Today and the future
What
has changed through the recent years of crystals and gems is that they
are becoming more expensive. Some major problems facing crystals and
gems today and in the future is their increasing scarcity. When they
are scarce they are more expensive.
Conclusion
Thank
you for listening to my report about crystals and gems. Crystals and
gems is a big topic. I could have written a whole project on just one
gem but I wanted to talk about lots of them. I hope you learned
something from my presentation and enjoyed it. Goodbye.
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