Hey, could you maybe tell us about Labradorite? I checked wiki but I don't understand half the words there. I'm not a giant rock fan, but I like cool rocks and Labradorite looks really cool. Sorry to bother you!
Okay, so, Labradorite. Ā Labradorite is complicated and sciencey, as all good rocks are. Ā Iāll see if I can explain it in a way that makes any sense! Ā (Once again, Iām not a scientist! Ā Correct me if Iām wrong!)
Most minerals, when theyāre bright and pretty and colorful, look like that because while they were forming some impurities got mixed into them - usually metals like iron, copper, or titanium. Ā Without any impurities, these rocks would naturally be colorless. Ā We call these guys allochromatic (other-colored).
Other gemstones are certain colors because those elements are an important part of how they formed. Ā Theyāre not impurities that got mixed in, theyāre actually part of the gemstone. Ā Their natural color IS the color youāre seeing. Ā We call them idiochromatic (inherently colored).
But labradorite doesnāt get its color from either of those things. Ā Labradorite is special. Ā Itās part of a third group: psudochromatic (false colored). Ā These rocks arenāt colorful at all, but they LOOK that way when light passes through them.
See, labradorite is actually justā¦ grey. Ā From most angles, it looks like this:
You have to look at labradorite from a pretty specific angle to get those flashy colors, so when we cut it into cabochons for jewelry, or just polish up big pieces of it, weāre careful to do so at the most flattering angle, the angle that shows the most schiller, or āthose cool glowy colors.ā
Why just the one angle? Ā Itās all about labradoriteās crystal structure, and how itās formed.
Labradorite is a rock that cooled down really slowly. Ā Because of that, itās made of lots of very very thin layers of crystal, stacked on top of each other and all pretty much aligned in the same direction. Ā These are alternating layers of albite (mostly sodium), and orthoclase (mostly potassium), which solidify at very slightly different temperatures. Ā Labradorite is a rock that cooled in just the right way for a thin layer of albite to form, then a thin layer of orthoclase, then another thin layer of albite, and so on.
When light hits labradorite at the perfect angle to pass through a bunch of these layers, you get the schiller effect. Ā Basically, a little bit of the light gets bounced off the first layer and back to your eyes. Ā The rest of the light passes through to the second layer, and a little bit gets bounced back to your eyes again, and so on. Ā Every time more light gets sent back to you, itās a little out of sync, and this makes it look like a different color.
(This is a very simplified way of explaining this.)
If these layers were all perfectly the same size, youād get a uniform color, like the blue in moonstone. Ā But in labradorite, these layers might be different widths in different places, so different parts of the stone will reflect back wildly different colors! Ā We call this effect labradorescence to differentiate it from the uniform colored adularescence found in moonstone and some opals.
Depending on where itās found in the world, labradorite can reflect all sorts of different colors!
But whatever color it is, Labradorite will always be the Best and Coolest Rock.
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