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Are Gemstone Absorption Spectra?
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Color is an obvious quality of a gem but alone it tells little

about a gem. By using a spectroscope to reveal gemstone
absorption spectra, a gemologist can take a fuller view of Products and
how gems interact with light and get their color. Determining Services
which wavelengths of the spectrum of light a particular Directory
gemstone absorbs is not only useful for identification, it can
also be used to determine if a gem is natural or synthetic or Looking for
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What Does Absorption Mini-Quiz.
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Mean?
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In large part,Email
gemstone absorption spectra give
address... gems
sign uptheir
color. When white light strikes a gemstone, the photons of
particular wavelengths, or colors, are absorbed at the
atomic level. However, these absorbed photons dont give Scholarships
the gem color. These photons effectively become heat.
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Although it may seem odd that gems can turn certain colors encourage the
into heat, there is a well-known example of objects turning advancement of
colors into heat. Black colored objects absorb all the students pursuing a
wavelengths of visible light and convert them into heat. What higher education.
we see as the color black is the absorption of all visible Learn more about
light. White colored objects reflect all wavelengths of visible the 2015 Clark
light, so they get neither heat nor any color from light Scholarship.
beyond that of white light. (This is why black colored
clothes keep you warmer and white colored clothes keep you
cooler).
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Gemstone light absorption is not the same as the internal
reflection of light within a faceted gem that contributes to email address
gemstone dispersion. Light that is absorbed by a gemstone
is not trapped inside it bouncing about endlessly. Absorbed Subscribe
light exists only as heat.

The wavelengths of light that are not absorbed by a gem

pass through it and create the colors we see with the naked
eye. Transparent gems are said to transmit the non-
absorbed wavelengths. Opaque gems are said to reflect the
non-absorbed wavelengths. Different gem species absorb,
transmit, and reflect different wavelengths of light. These
combinations are what give them their characteristic colors.

What Do Gemstone
Absorption Spectra Look
Like?
White light is composed of all visible colors. Its spectrum,
when dispersed through a prism, looks like a rainbow. A
spectroscope disperses white light and also indicates the
wavelengths of colors, usually measured in nanometers (nm)
or billionths of a meter.
 The visible light spectrum, from a violet color with a
wavelength of 380 nm to a red with wavelength of 750 nm.
In this image, no colors or wavelengths have been
absorbed into any object. Linear Visual Spectrum Light,
Public Domain

A spectroscope makes gemstone absorption spectra visible

by directing white light into a gem and displaying the
resulting rainbow of colors, minus those colors that are
absorbed. These absorbed wavelengths of light appear as
dark lines. Sometimes entire areas of the spectrum or
ranges of colors are absorbed and appear dark.

Gemologists can compare the absorption lines, areas, and

patterns they see through a spectroscope with known
gemstone absorption spectra to help identify a particular
gemstone. Emeralds, for example, will display distinct black
absorption lines at 680 and 683 nm, an area of absorption
between 580 and 630 nm, and an almost complete
absorption of the violet end of the spectrum. Whether or not
an emerald looks emerald green, a real emerald will display
this absorption spectrum.

There are two kinds of spectroscopes, diffraction grating

and prism. Both work equally well and measure the same
wavelengths. Diffraction grating spectroscopes distribute
the wavelengths evenly. Prism spectroscopes distort the
blue and red areas in order to make the absorption lines
easier to see. Emerald Absorption Spectrum by Don Clark

Not all gemstones can be identified by their absorption

spectra. Some gems require additional analysis for
identification. Nevertheless, observing a gemstones
absorption spectrum can be a valuable gemological test.

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