the.com/chrysoberyl
The gem that invented color-changing before Instagram filters made it cool.
means A hard, yellow-to-green gemstone (and the mineral family behind alexandrite and cat's-eye stones) prized for its brilliance and, in some varieties, its ability to shift color in different light.
from From Greek chrysos, 'gold,' plus beryllos, 'beryl' — literally 'golden beryl.' Despite the name, it isn't actually a beryl at all; it's a separate aluminate mineral that just happened to share beryl's gem-trade glow and got grandfathered into the name before mineralogists sorted out the family tree.
- color trick
- Alexandrite variety looks green by day, red by candlelight
- hardness
- Second only to diamond and corundum, 8.5 on Mohs scale
- name confusion
- Not beryl at all, despite the misleading name
- cat's eye
- Cymophane variety shows a glowing slit like a feline pupil