Crystal is divided into natural crystal and artificial crystal. Natural crystal is the product of nature, and artificial crystal is the imitation of artificial products of nature. There are great differences between the two in all aspects.
Natural crystal belongs to Quartz in mineralogy, its chemical composition is silicon dioxide, tripartite/hexagonal crystal system, with glass gloss, Mohs hardness of 7.In mineralogy, the colorless and transparent single Crystal quartz (commonly known as white crystal) is called Rock Crystal.In jewelry, the single crystal quartz is collectively known as crystal.Therefore, the meaning of natural crystal in jewelry is broader, including not only natural white crystal (RockCrystal) in mineralogy, but also natural Quartz (Quartz) in other colors or with other inclusions.
The English word Crystal not only refers to natural crystals and artificial crystals, but also means "ore". Therefore, many ores we see in the crystal market do not belong to the class of crystal, thus, there is the concept of "generalized crystal".The broad sense of crystal almost includes in addition to jadeite, diamond, red (blue) gemstone other natural crystal, including gemology, mineralogy of the crystal class, also includes does not belong to the crystal, but generally appear in the crystal market of other natural crystal, such as rubarite, malachite, garnet, moon stone, etc.
At present, there is a part of the market of natural crystals, artificial color or after other post-processing beautification of the crystal, although to a certain extent has been recognized by the jewelry industry, but in the crystal collection industry and spiritual use may not be recognized.
Crystal and jade are both different and related.In ancient China, crystal was called Shuijing, which is the essence of water. It is also called Shuiyu, which means jade like water.Xu Shen said in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, "Jade is the beauty of stone."The ancient people collectively referred to the beautiful and moist stones as jade, that is, the jade referred to is in a broad sense, not only including various jadeite and nephrite, but also including crystal, agate and other beautiful natural crystal stones.According to the current division, part of the "jade" in ancient China is actually today's crystal.