What is an interesting fact about agate?
What is an interesting fact about agate?
Facts About Agate Agates are found all over the world and agate deposits have been found in nearly every continent! The most common type of agate is called chalcedony. Chalcedony has quartz varieties that have a cryptocrystalline structure. This means that the crystals are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
What is so special about a agate stone?
The stone itself is distinguished by impressive shades of natural colors and contrast in the band patterns it contains. The characteristic band patterns—which begin at the center of the rock and move outwards like the rings on a tree—are visually dynamic.
Where do agates come from?
Agate is found throughout the world. In the United States it is produced in several western states; Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana are the chief sources of gemstones. Most agates occur in cavities in eruptive rocks or ancient lavas.
How old is an agate?
Agate is a very old (takes 50 million years to form) and widespread rock that has bands of color on it.
Is agate a birthstone?
Agate was the traditional birthstone for May back in the days of the ancient Romans and Greeks, when birthstones were generally assigned to the astrological sign rather than the month. Agates are a form of chalcedony, available in almost any colour, and often banded, striped or spotted.
How do agates get stripes?
Agate has also been known to fill veins or cracks in volcanic or altered rock underlain by granitic intrusive masses. Such agates, when cut transversely, exhibit a succession of parallel lines, often of extreme tenuity, giving a banded appearance to the section.
What does agate stand for?
AGATE
| Acronym | Definition |
|---|---|
| AGATE | Advocacy for Gifted and Talented Education |
| AGATE | Association of Gifted and Talented Education |
| AGATE | Advanced Gamma-Ray Astronomy Telescope Experiment |
| AGATE | Advanced, Gifted, and Talented Education |
What are agate rocks used for?
They were some of the earliest stones fashioned by people. Today they are cut into cabochons, beads, small sculptures, and functional objects such as paperweights and bookends. Agate cabochons are popular and are used in rings, earrings, pendants, and other jewelry objects.
Who discovered agate?
Theophrastus
Etymology and history. The stone was given its name by Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher and naturalist, who discovered the stone along the shore line of the Dirillo River or Achates (Ancient Greek: Ἀχάτης) in Sicily, sometime between the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.
How big do agates get?
The average agate is less than 3 inches in diameter. Heft the stone. Most agate pebbles feel heavier than they look due to their dense composition. You may wish to compare suspected agates with other stones that are lying close by.
Is agate expensive?
Most agates are cheap ($1 – $10), but some can be very expensive ($100 – $3000) depending on their type, colors, and the location where they were found. Tumbled agate is automatically more expensive than raw agate and those with very vibrant colors, fine bands or are found in one place only also cost more.
Is there another name for agate?
In this page you can discover 8 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for agate, like: chalcedony, carnelian, semi-precious, marcasite, aventurine, gemstone, labradorite and rock-crystal.
