Gemstones

📖 In short

A gemstone is a beautiful, precious stone made into rings, necklaces and crowns. Gemstones include clear sparkling diamonds, red rubies, green emeralds, blue turquoise and pearls. Skilled jewelers cut and polish them to make them shine more.

🤩 Did you know?

Gemstones are weighed in a unit called the carat.
Famous big diamonds were discovered in India.
Amber almost floats in salt water because it's light.
Today scientists make gems in laboratories that look like natural ones.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 From the earth

Most gemstones form inside the earth from minerals, through heat and pressure over a very long time. When they're dug out they're rough and don't shine much.

🔍 Gems made by living things

Some gems are made by living things, like pearls made by oysters, coral, and amber, which is resin from ancient trees that turned to stone.

💡 Cutting and polishing

A gem cutter cuts the stone into many small flat faces, so light enters and bounces around inside, making the gem sparkle in many colors.

🎯 Measuring hardness

Scientists measure how hard stones are: diamond is the hardest natural material, scratched only by another diamond. Amber is soft and scratches easily.