Chrysoberyl is basically an Aluminium, beryllium mineral with the chemical formula BeAl2O4. The name chrysoberyl was derived from the greek word chrysos which means gold-white spar. Chrysoberyls are basically yellowish-green, light green,green in color. The clarity ranges from transparent to translucent.In history chrysoberyls where also called as chrysolite. Another interesting property of the chrysoberyl is the cat’s eye effect.This cat’s eye effect is due chatoyancy.Chatoyancy is an optical reflecting effect caused by fibrous structure in the mineral.Due to this effect the mineral is also synonymously named as Cymophanite, which is cymophanit in German and cymophanita in Spanish. This effect is smooth and blazing like the ray on the eye of cat. Hence it is called as cat’s eye. This rough is mainly shaped into cabochon to showcase the effect completely.Another sub category of the chrysoberyl is the Alexandrite stone, which is bluish green or green in daylight and changes color to red, raspberry red or purplish red in incandescent light. This is due to the chromium content along with iron and titanium. CIBJO is an international confederation of the national jewelry trade organizations. CIBJO declares that the color changing property of a chrysoberyl is named alexandrite.
Chrysoberyl is very scarce because of the formation and it required a very specific geological condition and mainly a metamorphic environment. Russia is the major source for chrysoberyls and Other known traces occurred in India, Burma, Madagascar, Srilanka but none in par with the Russian Ural mines. Chrysoberyl is said to be the third hardest mineral on the Moh's Scale measuring 8.5. The refractive index is 1.74-1.77. The specific gravity of
alexandrite ranges from 3.67.
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