First, artificial opal is harmless. Because of the rise of opal ornaments, more and more artificial cat eyes have appeared in the market in recent years, so artificial opal is harmful. In fact, artificial opal is harmless to human body. At present, most of the artificial cat's eyes on the market are made of glass fiber, which will not produce harmful radiation to human body.
Second, the difference between artificial opal and natural opal is different.
Natural opal belongs to a variety of chrysoberyl in mineralogy. Its main component is beryllium-containing alumina, and its chemical molecule is BeAl2O4. At present, the artificial opal on the market is composed of glass fiber, which is composed of oxides such as silica, alumina and calcium oxide.
Different hardness
Natural opal and metamorphic rocks belong to the top five gems in the world, and their hardness is second only to diamonds and rubies and sapphires, with Mohs hardness reaching 8.5. The material of artificial opal is glass fiber, which is not much different from the hardness of glass. Generally, the Mohs hardness rating is only 6.
Different structures
Natural opal has a strong cat's eye optical effect, mainly because the internal structure of opal is irregular and flocculent, and there are very slender and dense tubular inclusions in it. The structure of artificial opal is hexagonal honeycomb with uniform and regular structure.