Aventurine is a mineral with a hardness of 7 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness [?]. These Trigonally structured gems are made of silicon dioxide, their full chemical compound being SiO2.

Aventurine is a quartz mineral that is most often used to crave ornate animal or spiritual figures. Aventurescence is a term used to describe the shimmering of this stone that is caused by mica inclusions. The color is almost always green, however sometimes it is blue, or green with hints of blue, or brown.

Aventurine is ideal for the carving of figures, but not the best material in the world for working into a clear gem. In our oppinion Aventurine has been treated very much like jade or jadenite in terms of it's many usages. Gems are usually polished round, with a rare few being cut into stones with facets.

To be perfectly honest Aventurine is not simply a quartz but rather a conglomerate of mostly quartz and other inclusions. This gem is very affordable unless carved into an ornate figurine in which case you will most likely be paying a premium for the artist work, and not so much the raw material.

The specific gravity [?] for Aventurine is 2.65, it's refractive index [?] is 1.54-1.55, and it's double refraction [?] is 0.009.

History

The words "a ventura" is Italian for by chance, and has been used for lucky charms.

Has historically been found in the United States, Brazil, Russia, Tanzania, and other places.

Industrial Usages

Aventurine is widely used in carvings as it's color and hardness lend it well to carving.

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Terms

Double Refraction or dr is the ability of a mineral to separate a refracted ray of light into 2 rays. If held over an image or text it will display the object 2x its original size.

Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness is the standard used to categorize a mineral's ability to resist scratching. It gets its name from Friedrich Mohs, the German geologist who first created the scale.

RI or Refractive Index defines light's ability to move through the mineral or in a general sense, any material.

SG or Specific Gravity is the ratio of the weight of any substance to that of pure water at temperature of 3.98°C(39.2°F) and standard atmospheric pressure. This is important to note when actively seeking these minerals in the wild. Minerals with a higher SG will settle below material with a lower sg over time.