Crystals are pretty pieces of nature that we keep around because they're beautiful or make us feel happy. But crystals are also used in a lot of other important ways that most of us don't even think about. 

Sugar Crystals

Salt Crystals

Quartz

Graphite

Silicon

Snow

Sugar is a very common type of crystal that we all know- Americans consume an average of 20 teaspoons a day!

Another crystal we love to eat? Salt-or sodium chloride- occurs naturally when saltwater evaporates, leaving cubic salt crystals.

Quartz is used in watches and clocks to keep accurate time, by sending electricity through a Quartz crystal. The electricity makes it vibrate at a precise frequency which regulates the movement of the clock or watch!

Graphite is a crystalline form of carbon that is very soft and has many uses. It is mixed with clay to create the 'lead' of pencils, which actually have no lead at all. Graphite is also used as a lubricant, conductor and plays an important role in Lithium batteries.

Silicon is an important ingredient to making computer chips and processors, so you can thank crystals for your smartphone and your laptop. LCD screens are Liquid Crystal Display. The liquid crystals are great at carrying light precisely so they make great screens.

Drywall is often made of gypsum, so you are likely surrounded by it right now if you're inside.

And if not, maybe you're surrounded by another type of crystal- snow- which is crystallized water.

These are just a few examples of crystals that we use or see in everyday life- besides the ones we keep for their beauty or metaphysical properties. Crystals are everywhere!

There are so many different crystals and gemstones that exist in nature, and collectively they have an incredibly vast range of colors all over the spectrum. Some types of gemstones can have several different colors, like Topaz, Quartz or Tourmaline. So how do they get their colors?

In their chemical structure, gemstones have trace amounts of different transition metals either as part of their chemical compound or as impurities. Transition metals are the metals that make up the large, middle part of the Periodic Table, and these metals are able to absorb colored light. Different wavelengths of visible light can be absorbed by different transition metals, leading to the different colors that we see. 

Purple Amethyst - colored by the irradiation of Iron ions in place of Silicon

For example, the purple coloring of Quartz that we call Amethyst is caused by the irradiation of Iron ions in place of Silicon in some locations of the structure.

Garnet’s red coloring is caused by Iron ions replacing Magnesium ions, and the lovely blue variety of Beryl that we call Aquamarine is from the presence of Iron ions replacing Aluminum ones.

Citrine

Emerald

Opal

Quartz w/Hematite

The yellow color of Citrine - another form of Quartz- is caused by Aluminum or Iron impurities.

In Emerald, Chromium ions replacing Aluminum creates green. In Ruby it creates red!

Topaz in it’s pure form is colorless, while atomic level imperfections cause the blue, yellow and brown varieties. 

Topaz in it’s pure form is colorless, while atomic level imperfections cause the blue, yellow and brown varieties.

Transition metals are not the only way that gemstones get their colors, however. In some stones, such as Sapphires, it is caused by the transfer of electrons between ions.

 Color can also be caused when an ion in a specific place is missing within the structure, or diffraction of light through the structure, like in an Opal.  

Simple inclusions of tiny minerals inside a larger solid crystal can change its color. For example if a clear crystal like Quartz or Apophyllite or Calcite has red Hematite in it, the color of the crystal itself can appear to be red.

These are the most common reasons for the colors of crystals, or at least their colors as they appear to the human eye. There are more reasons, for more complicated crystals such as Alexandrite, Labradorite and some Fluorites. Crystals are complicated and the more you learn, the more complex they become!