How does amber glow in ultraviolet light?

Amber (succinite) is not a stone, but a petrified fossil resin of coniferous trees. Nevertheless, according to the Russian grading system, it belongs to the first order jewelry stones and is often subject to counterfeiting and imitation. From our article you will learn how to check amber for authenticity.

Signs of amber authenticity

Each of the methods proposed below is based on the properties of amber, by which you can distinguish the original from the fake: · Densely located, usually uniform, so-called calcinations or sparkles, which are visible in the thickness of the sample, can indicate both a fake – burnite, and the ennoblement of real amber by calcination. · Coloring without color transitions, without textures and inclusions (bubbles) is another sign of a fake. Although now they have learned to fake the texture of amber. · Natural amber, especially untreated, has an interesting color and unique pattern; the transitions from one shade to another are chaotic. Due to this, it looks richer than imitations.

How to determine whether amber is real or fake?

Plastic, tinted glass, bakelite, celluloid, epoxy resins, and bernite can be passed off as amber. There are several household methods of checking, we will consider them below.

Scratch

Take a sample and use a knife or razor blade to make a scratch in an inconspicuous place. Small fragments that can be easily crushed into powder are what remains of real amber, because it has low hardness. Elastic shavings are a sign of plastic. Glass with a hardness rating of 5 on the Mohs scale will not leave significant scratches.

Saline test

Real amber, as a rule, does not sink in salt water, unlike fresh water. However, some samples of hardened tree resin may be denser than the saline solution and may not float. Therefore, the test cannot be called one hundred percent reliable. However, only samples without frames, fasteners and decorative elements are suitable for testing in this way. To prepare the solution, dilute 2 tbsp in a glass of water. l. table salt. The test will not detect copal and amber made from pressed shavings, but it will easily detect fakes made from plastic. After testing, rinse the sample with fresh water and dry.

Weight and thermal conductivity evaluation

Amber is of organic origin, its density is about 1,05–1,09 cm 3. For example, amber beads are very noticeable both in the hand and on the neck. Whereas plastic fakes will be weightless. If you take amber and a fake glass in your hand, the first one will be warm to the touch, while the glass will retain its temperature longer.

Friction test

Natural amber becomes electrified when rubbed against fabric. If you bring an electrified sample to finely chopped paper, fluff or feathers, they will be attracted. The method makes it possible to weed out, for example, copal, which is often sold under the guise of young amber, and other fakes that do not have the property of electrification.

Heating Odor Assessment

When the temperature of the test sample is significantly increased by rubbing it on a cloth or warming it in the palms of real amber, a faint resinous odor similar to pine or turpentine can be detected. But the copal will soften from the same procedure, its surface will become sticky. If you apply a hot sewing needle to the surface of the sample, succinite will give off white smoke with a characteristic and quite pronounced odor of rosin. At the same time, different amber has different aromatic shades, but with common sourish-resinous notes. Synthesized samples in such a test will melt faster, emitting a pungent chemical odor.

Open flame test

If you try to set the sample on fire with a candle or lighter (hold only with tweezers!), genuine amber begins to light up after about 3 seconds. By holding it over the flame for 1–2 seconds longer, and then moving it to the side, you can see that the original will continue to burn quite intensely with boiling, while smoking. The remaining smoke from the extinguished amber will be white. Glass does not support combustion, and can crack if exposed to sudden heat. The plastic will melt in a matter of minutes.

Solvent test

Here’s another way to recognize amber. Unlike plastic counterfeits, succinite demonstrates relative resistance to alcohol and solvents. Acetone and nail polish remover can change the color or texture of the surface of plastic fakes, and copal will be hopelessly damaged from such experiments. If you place a drop of ethyl ether, ethyl alcohol 95% or other solvent on the surface of the test sample, natural amber will not give any reaction – neither disintegration nor stickiness. Another thing is imitations made from pressed amber and copal: their surface will become sticky upon contact with the solvent. Some plastics do not react when combined with alcohol, but are soluble in acetone. Glass counterfeits also will not show themselves in any way when interacting with these reagents. Attention! The test must be carried out on an inconspicuous area of ​​the product; long-term exposure to solvents may leave stains on natural amber that cannot be removed. 3 to 5 seconds are enough to perform this test.

UV lamp test

If you shine ultraviolet light on a sample, natural amber will give off a bluish glow of varying intensity. Luminescence is clearly visible in transparent samples; as the transparency of amber decreases, it weakens. Smoky translucent samples glow pale blue, the so-called cloud and bone ones – milky white with a faint bluish tint, raw amber with a “sugar crust” – brown tones, blue Dominican amber – blue. Under a UV flashlight, the wavy streaks, banding, and transitions inherent in real amber are clearly visible. Synthetic resin based on bakelite is inert in UV rays; imitations using casein give a yellow glow.

Read more about amber

https://miuz.ru/guide/stones/proverka-podlinnosti/proverka-podlinnosti-yantarya/
Amber authentication Checking the authenticity of amber Signs of authenticity of amber How to determine whether amber is real or fake? Amber (succinite) is not a stone, but a petrified fossil resin of coniferous trees. Nevertheless, according to the Russian evaluation system, it is classified as jewelry stones. Like many other natural minerals, in the ultraviolet spectrum, amber exhibits a fluorescence effect, that is, it emits light visible to the human eye. In this radiation spectrum, amber looks completely different than in daylight. The effect of amber glow in the UV range has found wide application for searching for a mineral in the open air and catching it under water (amber glowing blue against the background of gray stones is visible from afar), as well as determining the authenticity of stones, their diagnosis, study and evaluation.

The video clearly shows how real amber glows and how the fake one in the center does not glow (it remains yellow).

Why does amber glow under UV light?

• Firstly, amber is a mineral of organic origin, and many organic substances are prone to fluorescence.
• Secondly, as a rule, fossil amber contains in its structure inclusions of various chemical substances, for example, chromium and cobalt, as well as manganese, which also glow in ultraviolet waves.
• In addition, the fluorescence of amber can be caused by defects in its crystal lattice. This forces the molecules to give up some of the energy they receive, including in the form of light visible to the human eye.

By the way, amber can be called a mineral only conditionally, since from the point of view of physics its organic origin does not allow it to be classified as a mineral. Essentially, it is the hardened resin of coniferous trees that grew on the planet many millions of years ago.

How amber glows under ultraviolet light

Regardless of the type and place of extraction, any natural amber exhibits a fluorescence effect when exposed to UV rays. In this case, the stone can glow in various colors, ranging from milky white to a bright blue hue, and transparent samples acquire a cloudy milky texture, that is, they lose their transparency.

There are some exceptions, among which it is worth noting:

• Pressed ornamental stones, which are made by vacuum pressing small amber chips. A characteristic feature of this low-quality amber is uneven fluorescence, since its production often uses different types and colors of material.
• Untreated amber with a sugar crust, which can turn different shades of brown in UV rays.
• Some other types of amber, which are characterized by greenish-yellow fluorescence.

If amber glows with a well-defined yellow, green or any other colors not mentioned above, then with 100% probability we can talk about its artificial origin. Those. about fakes.

In addition, when transparent samples of the mineral are transilluminated, its structure should be visible: areas of resin flow on top of each other become clearly visible, and cracks in the stones fluoresce with violet light, which is clearly visible in the photo below.

In what UV spectrum does amber glow well?

If you want to look for amber on the seashore or on mountain slopes using an ultraviolet flashlight, it is worth remembering that it does not emit light in the entire spectrum of UV radiation. The best way to find it, just like diagnosing it, is ultraviolet with a wavelength of 395-400 nanometers. The use of flashlights with a different wavelength is not permissible, since amber will not be visible in their spectrum.

In addition, it is better to use a high-power light device (at least 5 W). Why is it needed? It’s simple: the range of the flashlight directly depends on this indicator, which is especially important when you need to survey large areas in search of stones.