Topaz

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Topaz

Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white and ductile member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al; its atomic number is 13....
and fluorine

Fluorine

Fluorine is the chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. Fluorine forms a single bond with itself in elemental form, resulting in the diatomic F2 molecule....
with the chemical formula

Chemical formula

A chemical formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, and how the relationship between those atoms changes in chemical reactions....
Al

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white and ductile member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al; its atomic number is 13....
₂Si

Silicon

Silicon is the most common metalloid. It is a chemical element, which has the symbol Si and atomic number 14. The atomic mass is 28.0855....
O

Oxygen

Oxygen no O2 produced; 2) O2 produced, but absorbed in oceans & seabed rock; 3) O2 starts to gas out of the oceans, but is absorbed by land surfaces and formation of ozone layer; 4-5) O2 sinks filled and the gas accumulates]]...
₄(F

Fluorine

Fluorine is the chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. Fluorine forms a single bond with itself in elemental form, resulting in the diatomic F2 molecule....
,OH

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the chemical symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly combustion and explosive Diatomic molecule gas with the molecular formula H2....
)₂. Topaz crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and its crystal

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
s are mostly prismatic terminated by pyramidal and other faces, the basal pinacoid often being present. It has an easy and perfect basal cleavage

Cleavage (crystal)

Cleavage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite Crystallography structural planes. These planes of relative weakness are a result of the regular locations of atoms and ions in the crystal, which create smooth repeating surfaces that are visible both in the microscope and to the naked eye....
. The fracture is conchoidal

Conchoidal fracture

Conchoidal fracture describes the way that brittle materials break when they do not follow any natural cleavage . Materials that break in this way include flint and other fine-crystalliteed minerals, as well as most amorphous solids, such as obsidian and other types of glass....
to uneven. Topaz has a hardness

Mohs scale of mineral hardness

Not to be confused with Siemens_#Mho, a unit of electric conductance.The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material....
of 8, a specific gravity

Specific gravity

Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the density of a given solid or liquid substance to the density of water at a specific temperature and pressure, typically at 4?C and , making it a dimensionless quantity ....
of 3.4–3.6, and a vitreous luster.

topaz is colorless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities; typical topaz is wine- or straw yellow

Yellow

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Color and varieties

Pure topaz is colorless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities; typical topaz is wine- or straw yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S cone cells; that is, light with much red and green but not very much blue....
, pale gray, or pink. They may be made white, gray, pale green, blue, pink or reddish-yellow and transparent or translucent.

Yellow topaz is the traditional November birthstone, the symbol of friendship, and the state gemstone

List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones

Not every state has an official state mineral, rock, stone or gemstone. ...
for the US State of Utah.

Blue topaz is the December birthstone and Texas

Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
state gemstone. Topaz very rarely occurs blue naturally. Typically, colorless, gray or pale yellow material is heat treated and irradiated in order to turn it blue.

Mystic topaz is colorless topaz which has been artificially treated with a thin film/coating giving it the desired rainbow effect, and is not a naturally occurring topaz.

Localities and occurrence

Topaz is commonly associated with silicic

Silicic

Silicic is a term used to describe magma or igneous rock rich in silica. The amount of silica that constitutes a silicic rock is usually put at at least 65 percent....
igneous rocks of the granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
and rhyolite

Rhyolite

This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous rock, volcanic rock , of felsic composition ....
type. It typically crystallizes in granitic pegmatites or in vapor cavities in rhyolite lava flows like those at Topaz Mountain in western Utah. It may be found with fluorite

Fluorite

Fluorite is a mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CalciumFluorine. It is an Cubic mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon....
and cassiterite

Cassiterite

Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, tin dioxide. It is generally opaque but is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem....
. It can be found in the Ural

Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains are a mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western Russia. They are usually considered as the natural boundary between Europe and Asia....
and Ilmen mountains, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India....
, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east....
, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, Flinders Island and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

Some clear topaz crystals from Brazilian pegmatites can reach boulder size and weigh hundreds of pounds. Crystals of this size may be seen in museum collections. The Topaz of Aurungzebe, observed by Jean Baptiste Tavernier measured 157.75 carats.

Colorless and light-blue varieties of topaz are found in Precambrian

Precambrian

The Precambrian is an informal name for the supereon comprising the eon of the geologic timescale that came before the current Phanerozoic eon....
granite in Mason County, Texas

Mason County, Texas

Mason County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 3,738. Its county seat is Mason, Texas. Mason County is named for Fort Mason, which was located in the county....
within the Llano Uplift

Llano Uplift

The Llano Uplift is a roughly circular Dome of Precambrian rock, primarily granite, in Central Texas Texas in the United States. It is located in the eastern region of the Edwards Plateau, west of the Texas Hill Country....
. There is no commercial mining of topaz in that area.

Etymology and historical and mythical usage

The name "topaz" is derived from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
??p????? (??pázi?s), the author of one of the first systematic treatises on minerals and gemstones dedicated two chapters on the topic in 1652. In the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
the name topaz was used to refer to any yellow gemstone, but now the name is only properly applied to the silicate described above.

Many modern English translations of the Bible, including the King James Version mention Topaz in Exodus

Exodus

Exodus is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. It tells how Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Mountain of God Sinai....
28:17 in reference to a stone in the Hoshen

Hoshen

Hoshen/Choshen is a Hebrew language word usually translated as breastplate; in English language contexts it refers to a specific breastplate – the sacred breastplate worn by the King James Bible or Torah), according to the Book of Exodus....
: "And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row."

However, since these translations as topaz all derive from the Septuagint

Septuagint

The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd century BC and 1st century BC in Alexandria....
translation topazi[os], which as mentioned above referred to a yellow stone that was not topaz, but probably chrysolite, it should be borne in mind that topaz is not meant here. The masoretic text

Masoretic Text

The Masoretic Text is the Hebrew language text of the Jewish Bible . It defines not just the Development of the Jewish Bible canon, but also the precise letter-text of the biblical books in Judaism, as well as their niqqud and cantillation for both public reading and private study....
(the Hebrew on which most modern Protestant Bible translations of the Old Testament are based) has pitdah as the gem the stone is made from; pitdah is of unknown meaning, though scholars think it is related to an Assyrian

Assyrian

Assyrian may refer to:in antiquity:*ancient Assyria**the Old Assyrian period **the Middle Assyrian period **the Neo-Assyrian period *Assyria , a province of the Achaemenid Empire...
word meaning flashed. There is a wide range of views among traditional sources about which tribe of the Israelites the stone refers to.

External links

a few dozen full text historical references on Topaz