OPAL EXPERIMENT ... Australian VS Ethiopian

 

http://www.gemstory.com.au/learn-about-opal.html

 

Experimenting opals  -  by

'Heating Australian Opal & Ethiopian Opal

in the Microwave for 3 minutes'

 and see what happens to both opals!!

 

READY, SET, GO !!!!

 

 

. . . . . . . . .

 

 

Well, it seems ready to serve  (^-^) !!

After 3 minutes of waiting ... And hopefully opals are

not too hot to touch, hahaha!

 

 

 

 



Let's see ... uuuummmmmmm ...

 

Can you see the difference between Australian Opal & Ethiopian Opal from here??!?

 

 

 

Haha!!!!!

 

What a result .. It's obvious that Ethiopian Opal is showing

a new look ... it reveals a "cracky look" doesn't it !!!???

 



Comparisons to Australian Opal ...

Well, well, well ... That's my baby!!!!  (^^)

 

No changes, still in its original shape, looks nice & clean ... Not even a scratch or any crack on its surface.

 

Good on you, AUSTRALIAN !!!!

Can you see the difference ...

 

BEFORE  and  AFTER ??!!?

 



 

 

 

AUSTRALIAN OPAL

 

BEFORE  -  7.00ct       AFTER  -  6.99ct

 

 

ETHIOPIAN OPAL

 

BEFORE  -  7.67ct      AFTER  -  7.48ct

 

( Opals looses its water after been heated... )

 

 

http://www.minerals.net/mineral/opal.aspx

 

 

Depending on how and where Opals are found, their quality

and stability is quite different ...

Just be careful before purchasing opals, 

if they are affordable and too easy to find,

there is a reason. The link I have attached

here might tell you more.

 

As far as I am concerned,

AUSTRALIAN OPAL IS THE BEST !!!!!

 

******

 

Another beautiful day we had in Surfers Paradise! If you're visiting Gold Coast, please feel free to come and say "HI" to us ...   (^^)     Cheers!

 

http://www.gemstory.com.au

 

 

xxxx      Malayvone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OPAL EXPERIMENT ...

 

 

 

For those who's not familiar with Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal, please see the link below.

 

http://www.jtv.com/library/ethiopian-hydrophane-opal,default,pg.html

 

 

 

G'day from Gold Coast, Australia. 

Our new experiment on solid opal is

"Using Food Coloring Liquid" !! 

 

 

 

Not sure what it says but it seems very strong and powerful liquid ... strong enough to get your fingers smudged easily

.

 

 

 

The chosen one (for experimenting ...)

would be these beautiful pieces.

 

 

Top - Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal (8.27ct)

Bottom - Australian White Opal (7.00ct)





 

 

 

Both to be placed in a clear glass bowl and ready to be soaked into Food Coloring ... (^^;)  

 

 

 

Remember, left is Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal

and the right, is Australian White Opal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we go !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 10 minutes of waiting ... This is what happened !!!

 

Top - Ethiopian Opal

Bottom - Australian Opal

 

You can clearly see how the whole image is changed in Ethiopian Hydrophane Opal, it sucked the coloring liquid and became another unique piece of opal !!!!! Nothing's been affected / done to Australian White Opal ... Stays the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well  .... (as expected), look what happened to my fingers. It's a small price to pay when considering what we have learnt from our OPAL EXPERIMENT and that how powerful the "food coloring" is ... hehehe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, the point here is "be careful" when you wear an Ethiopian Opal ... Your body acid, your colorful clothes and many other things can easily change your OPAL!!  

 

We will let you know what happens next, after trying to get its color and beauty back ... In the mean while, have fun today!!!  

 

 

Japanese Blog  :     http://www.gemstory.com/weblog/2013/04/post_1103.html

 

 

 

xxxx   Malayvone

 

 

Heat up Ethiopian Opal in microwave!?!?

Have you seen a page of

"Heat Opals in microwave!" on our website?? 

This page is one of very popular page on

Gemstory's website and there is a gentleman,

Mr.Ben, living in USA,

who was inspired by the page and made the

same experiment, but with an Ethiopian Opal.

The origin of  Ethiopian Opal is volcanic

so that it has a high water content.

Therefore, it should be protected from heat and

prolonged exposure to strong light, which could dry it out.

Mr. Ben heated up Ethiopian Opal in microwave

in his experiment.

As a result, Mr. Ben has reported

“It fractured into thousands of little pieces・・・・”

When we heated up Australian Black and Boulder Opal

in our experiment last time,

they didn't change their colour or any condition.

Many people think that Opal needs to be avoided

 in extreme heat or needs to dip in water occasionally

to keep its best condition, but this experiment has

approved that you should not be sensitive about it.

On the other hand, Ethiopian Opal contains higher

percentage of water. So when it comes to Ethiopian Opal,

you should be more sensitive about heat, dryness and lighting

to avoid drying it out.

Australian Opal is very stable and you don't need to

 be worried too much!!!!!

(I'm not saying that Ethionpian opal is bad!)

Everybody has a different taste,

some people might like a milky colours or

fragility of Ethiopian Opal, or some people,

like me, love a stability and vivid colours

of Australian Opal.

In the end, I'd like to thank you to Mr. Ben for

reporting such a great work!!

See more experiments???

Visit Gemstory's website!!

xxx Mayu