Gemstones & Human Activity with rocks

Gemstones & Human Activity with rocks

By Jorge Diaz

​What is a gemstone?

A gemstone is a mineral that is so pretty it is generally used to make jewelry or other adornments.

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​Some examples of precious minerals, or gemstones, are sapphire (blue), ruby (red), emerald (green), diamond (center)

Open Ended

Why do you think gemstones are so pretty? Write your answer

​A Gemstone is a mineral!

​Remember, minerals have several characteristics, like:

• ​They have a known chemical composition.

• They occur naturally.

• ​They have a known crystal structure.

Multiple Choice

What are some characteristics of minerals?

• Known crystal structure

• Known chemical composition

• Occurs naturally

• All of the above

​Physical properties

​Remember, minerals also have physical properties such as:

• ​Luster, or how the mineral interacts with light.

• Hardness, or how difficult it is to scratch it.

• ​Texture, or how does the surface feels.

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• Carat weight

• Color grade

• Cut grade

• Clarity grade

• Rarity grade​

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Diamonds can be between 1 to 3.5 billion years old! They can also be created in a lab. If so, they are called synthetic.

​Gemstones price depends also from

Gemstones can be used for creating rings and ornaments. There are some other precious stones like larimar or pearls.

​​Jewelry

From rocks we get the materials we use for building cement houses or skyscrapers.

​​Construction

From pieces of clockwork to automobiles and smelting, rocks and gemstones are used.

​​Industry

Sculptures come mostly from rocks and famous artists have been using them for centuries!

​​Art

​Uses of rocks and gemstones

Open Ended

Mention an example of an use for gemstones or rocks. What would you like to do if you had a precious gemstone?

​Human impact

Extracting minerals and gemstones can be very harmful (bad) for the environment, and even can affect a lot of people, animals and plants with severe health consequences that will take lots of time to fix.

Human activity

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​This is the result of a mine to extract minerals. Before this, there was probably a forest full of life.

Open Ended

What did you liked the most about learning this topic (gemstones and human activity)?