Zircons Have Feelings, Too Trivia Quiz

Answer: serpentine

Serpentine is usually green, or brownish- or yellowish-green and got its name from the Latin serpentinus meaning "serpent rock". It can be polished for use as a gemstone or carved. Because of its greenish shade it has been called false jade. Most of it is opaque or translucent and is found worldwide.

Answer: hambergite

Sometimes found near granite or alluvial deposits, hambergite is found in just a few places in the world. That from Madagascar is the leading source but hambergite from Afghanistan is the most desirable to collectors. It can be colorless, gray-white or yellow-white.

Answer: moldavite

Ninety-nine percent of moldavite comes from the southern Czech Republic. It is bottle-green in color and a few believe it is formed by meteors crashing into Earth. There are estimated to be only 275 tons of it worldwide. Because of its relative scarcity it is usually only found in hand-crafted jewelry.

Answer: tourmaline

The leader of each stage of the Tour de France bicycle race wears a yellow jersey. Tourmaline is a boron silicate mineral that is often mixed with aluminum, lithium or potassium. It's a lot prettier than it sounds. Sometimes more than one color is found in the same stone.

The Dutch East India Company started the demand for it when it brought some back to England from Ceylon. Besides its use as a gemstone, scientists in the 19th century used it to polarize light.

Answer: hackmanite

Hackmanite is a prime example of tenebrescence; it changes color when exposed to sunlight. Depending on where in the world it comes from, the colors vary from violet to gray or white to pink. Some of it may fluoresce to orange under ultraviolet light. Sounds like something the '60s and '70s hippies would have thought was "far out".

Answer: umbalite

Only found in Tanzania's Umba Valley, umbalite belongs to the garnet family. It is another rare stone and therefore quite costly. Discovered in 1978, it is already gaining a reputation for metaphysical properties.

Answer: spinel

Spinel's name may come from the Latin spina, for thorn, because of its pointed crystal structure. Or it may come from the Greek spitha, for spark, because of its bright color. Though found in several colors, the red is the most popular and is so close to the ruby in looks that the two were considered the same gem until science found chemical differences between them.

Answer: apatite

Apatite is composed mainly of calcium phosphate, much like your tooth enamel, so the food reference may not be too far off. It is most often used in the manufacture of fertilizer - but wait - it also comes in several attractive colors, polishes up and takes faceting well. Gem-quality stones are rare so it is highly collectable.

There are many colors; a particular green is known as the asparagus stone.

Answer: fluorite

Fluorine was named for fluorite, originally known as fluorspar. The term fluorescence also came from fluorite because it was one of the first fluorescent minerals found. It is a relatively soft mineral and so isn't used extensively in jewelry. You may see it as beads; gemstone collectors look for it because of its many bright colors.

Answer: quartz

Not rare at all, quartz is the second most abundant mineral on earth. It is found in several colors, with the pinkish rose quartz probably being the most popular in inexpensive jewelry, such as might be found in new age jewelry.