Corundum

Formula
Al2O3

Crystallography Varieties/End Diagnostic

Hardness
Lustre
Cleavage Fracture
Mohs
members
Steep
Hexagonal
9
Adamantine
None
Conchoidal
Deep
Ruby,
Extreme
Bipyramidal,
Vitreous
Uneven
horizontal
Sapphire
hardness,
tabular,
striations,
(any colour
high
prismatic,
polysynthetic other than
lustre, and
rhombohedral
twinning
red)
tapering
crystals,
common
hexagonal
massive or
bipyramids
granular

Crystal Habit

System

Corundum has been used extensively by humans, for both aesthetic and practical means. Corundum usage dates back to prehistoric human times where its varieties: sapphire and ruby were used as jewellery, indicating importance/wealth of those wearing
it. This tradition continues still in modern times, those with extreme amounts of wealth, have various precious stones, corundum
being one of those. More recently due to corundums high hardness, it has been used in sand paper as an abrasive and also in
machines used for manufacturing metals, plastics, and wood. Synthetic corundum opposed to the natural type, are preferred for
works in machinery and technology, this is because natural corundum tends to be small and in irregular shapes. Being able to
manufacture corundum allows the shape of the crystals to be uniform, greatly enhancing its reliability as a polisher/abrasive
material. Continuing with the properties of synthetic corundum, most of everyday jewels that contain a variety of corundum (ruby,
sapphire) are being made artificially. This makes them more accessible to people with lower incomes as they are significantly
cheaper than their natural variants. Another relatively unknown use of synthetic corundum is that synthetic rubies were used to
help create the first working laser, dubbed the ruby laser. Inadvertently, corundum has contributed to the explosion of
technological goods that use lasers, items such as: DVD players, Blue-ray devices, Laser eye surgery, and cosmetic surgery.
Corundum is mostly found amongst igneous or metamorphic rocks, some examples of those rocks being pegmatite and marble
respectively.