Top 10 Gemstones with Incredible Transparency
Gemstone transparency describes how much light, if any, a gem can transmit. Not all gems are transparent. Transparency is a result of light interacting with the gems at the atomic level where gemstones absorb, transmit, and reflect different wavelengths of light.Here we are talking about transparency that refers to conditions in the visible spectrum of light. Thanks to gem transparency we can see images and light through a transparent gem.
Goshenite is the colorless variety of Beryl.
Why it's #1?
1) it's so perfectly transparent that the lenses of the first eyeglasses were made of beryl because glass could not be made clear enough. The first eyeglasses were constructed in the 13th century in Italy with goshenite lenses.
2) Because lenses were made of beryl, eyeglasses in some languages were named for beryl - Brillen in German, Briller in Danish and bril in Dutch.
3) Goshenite is a very hard gem, 7.5-8 /10, so thanks to goshenite you can get the perfect eyeglasses - durable and almost unbreakable.
The image shows a clear taaffeeite crystal with pink-violet edges. You can see the blue background through the gem.
Although it's colored, aquamarine is highly transparent and catches a lot of light (aquamarine is the pale blue variety of beryl)
(aka white topaz). It's actually Colorless Topaz
