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All
Information for this page regarding the minerals talked about is a DIRECT
PASSAGE from Amethyst Galleries' Mineral
Gallery.
Many of the villains in Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon are named after
minerals. Such villains include the Dark Kingdom generals, and the Deathbusters.
We decided to do a little sideshow of the relation of minerals to our
characters.
Cyprine
Sapphire is the non-red variety of corundum, the second hardest natural
mineral known to mankind. The red variety of corundum is Ruby. Sapphires
are well known among the general public as being blue, but it can be
nearly any color. The blue color is by far the most popular color for
sapphire but orange-pink, golden, white, and even black have generated
much interest in the gem trade. Oriented rutile crystal inclusions cause
a six-pointed-star light effect (called asterism to form the popular
Star Sapphire.
VARIETY INFORMATION:
USES: Gemstone. Pikurl could be either of these two, both descriptions fit her character,
although ruby corrosponds with Cyprine more than pucherite does.
RUBY, the red variety of corundum
Ruby is the red variety of corundum, the second hardest natural mineral
known to mankind. The non-red variety of corundum is Sapphire Sapphires
are well known among the general public as being blue, but can be nearly
any color. The red color in ruby is caused by trace amounts of the element
chromium. The best shade of red for ruby is often given the name "pigeon
blood red", but ruby can be any shade of red up to almost pink.
Oriented rutile crystal inclusions cause a six-rayed-star light effect
(called asterism) to form the popular Star Ruby. Rubies come from all
over the world but good gemstones are found at Thailand, India, Madagascar,
Zimbabwe, North Carolina in the U.S., Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Kenya, Tanzania, Kampuchea, and perhaps most notably, Burma.
VARIETY INFORMATION:
USES: Gemstone. PUCHERITE
(no image available)
Pucherite, whose name comes from the actual mine shaft (Pucher Shaft)
from where the first specimens were found, is a rare bismuth vanadate
mineral. Pucherite is found at the Wolfgang Mine near Schneeburg in
Saxony, Germany and a few other places. The Wolfgang Mine is the mine
that contains the Pucher Shaft. The bismuth in this mineral has an effect
similar to the presence of lead in other minerals. It increases both
the density and luster. Pucherite has a significant specific gravity
of around 6.5 and a bright adamantine luster.
Pucherite is trimorphous with two other minerals: dreyerite and clinobisvanite.
All three minerals have the same chemistry, BiVO4, but they all have
different structures. This is reflected in the fact that pucherite is
orthorhombic, clinobisvanite is monoclinic and dreyerite is tetragonal
in symmetry. The differing structures has a slight effect on the overall
yellow color of the group. Since the chemistry is the same, any change
in the color of pure samples must be due to the structural differences.
Dreyerite is typically orange-yellow to brownish yellow while clinobisvanite
is just yellow to yellowish red, but pucherite is a dark reddish brown
to less likely brownish yellow.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is dark reddish brown to brownish yellow.
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