Sapphire
Sapphire is a precious
gemstone, a variety of the mineral
corundum, consisting of
aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as
iron,
titanium,
cobalt,
lead,
chromium,
vanadium,
magnesium,
boron, and
silicon. The name ''sapphire'' is derived via the Latin '''' from the Greek ''sappheiros'' (}}), which referred to
lapis lazuli. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called
rubies rather than sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in
jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large
crystal boules. Because of the remarkable
hardness of sapphires 9 on the
Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after
diamond at 10 and
moissanite at 9.5) sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as
infrared optical components, high-durability
windows,
wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin
electronic wafers, which are used as the
insulating substrates of special-purpose
solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and
GaN-based blue
LEDs. Sapphire is the
birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th
anniversary. A
sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years.
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