What is the difference between tourmaline and crystal?

At present, many unprofessional businesses on the market have sold some low-end tourmalines and crystals together, and introduced to customers that tourmaline is a kind of crystal. Many people think that tourmaline is a kind of crystal that is not expensive. In fact, this is not true. Tourmaline and crystal are two different minerals. In the jewellery world, tourmaline is a medium-to-high-end gemstone, and high-quality tourmalines are rarer than diamonds. Crystal is a general gem.

The chemical composition of the two is also different. Tourmaline is a complex silicate. Crystal is a colorless and transparent large quartz crystal mineral. The main chemical component of crystal is silica. When the crystal of silica is perfect, it is crystal. After the silica gel is dehydrated, it is agate. The colloid of water containing silica is solidified and becomes opal. When the silica grains are less than a few microns. It forms chalcedony, vermiculite and secondary quartzite.

Due to the complex chemical composition of tourmaline, there is currently no synthetic tourmaline. Synthetic crystal jewelry is available in many markets. In 1768, the famous Swedish scientist Linnes discovered that the tourmaline is piezoelectric and pyroelectric, and the mineralogical name is "tourmaline". Crystal has no such effect. The color of the tourmaline is also much richer than the crystal, subdividing as many as 15 kinds of complex colors. The hardness of tourmaline is also higher than that of crystal, and the magnetic field of tourmaline is several dozens to hundreds of times of the same color crystal.