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Chemical Formula:
Be3Al2SiO6
Hardness: 7.5 - 8
Specific Gravity: 2.6 - 2.8
Beryl is
a translucent glassy mineral, essentially aluminum
beryllium silicate, occurring in hexagonal prisms and
constituting the chief source of beryllium. Beryl
derives its name from the ancient Greek word "berullos"
meaning crystal. The name Beryl as such originally is
rooted in India. Based on the Sanskrit word "veruliyam",
came the Greek word "beryllos". The beryl varieties
get their rich colors and hues due to the different
coloring elements. Aquamarine, Emerald and Morganite
are all Beryls - just like Golden Beryl, gold-green
Heliodor and colorless Goshenite. No matter whether
blue, green, yellow, colorless or pink, their chemical
and physical consistence is basically identical, they
only differ in color.
Beryls are popular gemstones with high brilliance and
hardness of 7.5. The hexagonal crystal structure
Beryls with usually vertically striped surfaces are
found in the South America, Middle and Western Africa,
Madagascar, Russia, Ukraine.
The sea-blue color of Beryl comes due to iron and is
the known as most popular gemstones, Aquamarine.
Emerald is a valuable Beryl that owes its color to
chromium or vanadium, which make it show the maybe
most beautiful and brightest green of all respective
gemstones coining a class all by itself,
emerald-green. Manganese lends a soft pink, rose or
peach color to the stone that is called Morganite.
Small traces of uranium are sufficient to lend
colorless Beryl a more or less satiated golden color -
typical characteristic of Golden Beryl. Iron and
uranium in combination are responsible for the fresh
and invigorating green-yellow of another Beryl
variety, of Heliodor. Goshenite is the colorless beryl
that is found in Goshen in Massachusetts, USA
