Today people have learned how to make precious stones. This activity is becoming more and more popular, since natural minerals in their chemical and physical characteristics do not differ at all from their artificially grown counterparts. A home laboratory is much more comfortable than a life-threatening, inaccessible mine, and the result is almost one hundred percent guaranteed.
It is necessary
- - homemade melting apparatus
- - 6 g of oxy aluminum powder
- - 0.2 g of hydroxy chromium
Instructions
Step 1
It is best for everyone who has decided to grow a gem at home to use the Auguste Verneuil method, because it is he who is the most accessible to the common man in the street. A well-known scientist developed this method more than 100 years ago, and it allows you to grow ruby crystals weighing 20-30 carats in just 2 to 3 hours. In general, at present, according to Verneuil, monocrystals of hundreds of names are grown, and mainly in laboratories, in production. But nothing prevents you from organizing this process in your own kitchen.
Step 2
Build an installation for growing single crystals according to the Verneuil method. With a desire and a certain amount of perseverance, this will not be difficult. The apparatus consists of a crystal lowering mechanism (1), a crystal holder (2), a muffle (4), a burner (5), a hopper (6), a shaking mechanism (7) and a cathetometer (8). One of the possible drawings of the device, simplified, you can see in the figure. The growing crystal itself is indicated by number 8 in the diagram.
Step 3
The synthesis of precious stones occurs in the process of melting during the melting of the charge - the blank for the future crystal. For the production of, for example, ruby, prepare a charge from a mixture of oxy aluminum powder (6 g) and oxy chromium powder (0.2 g). The charge must be poured into the furnace in small portions, it will melt in the combustion chamber, and the resulting drop will fall on the ceramic substrate, forming first a cone and then a cylinder, which will become your first home-grown single crystal.
