Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Gem of the Week: Snowflake Obsidian

Obsidian gemstones are natural glass and are the result of lava that cooled quickly. Obsidian helps to promote grounding and release tension and energy blockages. Color: Black to Smoky, Green, Mahogany, Rainbow, Snowflake

  

As stated above, Obsidian is made my lava flows that cooled very rapidly. This cooling process leaves the stone very brittle. When broken, it usually has very sharp edges. For this reason, it was often used in tools and weapons. Currently there are some tests being done with obsidian surgical scalpel blades.

Obsidian has been used since the stone age for tools, weapons, and pottery. In ancient Turkey and Greece, Obsidian was used for weaponry, mirrors, and decorations as well as in ritual circumcision.

In the Americas, Obsidian was highly valued and has been found traded over 200 miles away from their original mine. It gives us interesting markers for the economy of ancient cultures.

Today, Obsidian can be sharpened to a width of 3 nanometers thick at the edge of the blade and when looked at under a microscope, is still smooth and even, something that other knife edges cannot come close to. These blades are being tested to become medical scalpels as the cuts they make have fewer inflammatory cell reactions.

No comments:

Post a Comment