Hi all,
It is Friday! Not too many updates this week, but let's get to those we have:
Amora Gem updates:Amora Gem FAQ thread: I've started a separate thread for Amora gem questions which will hopefully avoid the need for new viewers to go through the now 80+ page blog thread. Note that some questions don't have exact answers yet
and will have to wait until later this Spring/Summer as we get closer to production.
Amora Gem FAQ thread One interesting note from making that FAQ thread - here's the breakout of Amora Gem's brilliance compared to other common gems:
10% more brilliant than Diamond
23% more brilliant than plain CZ
50% more brilliant than Sapphire
Mr. Robot video: We are working on the robot video so you'll be able to see Mr. Robot in action. I thought this was going to just be a quick 20 second shot of him in action, but our master cutter/robot overlord and videographer want to do a more complete video showing the evolution of a stone as Mr. Robot does his magic. So, we're now working on a 3-4 minute 'condensed' video, and that will be fun to show when ready.
Patents: The Princess cut Amora gem patent application is nearly finished, and we're hoping to have all the remaining patent applications done and filed within the next two weeks.
Amora Gem production schedule: As I mentioned last week, H&A rounds will be the first to be produced and available, with the other cuts staggered out after that. If you were wondering why the rounds are first, here's some interesting numbers from the past two years of Asha sales that help show how substantially rounds outsell the other cuts by comparison:
Asha Round
Asha Princess (1:4 vs rounds)
Asha Cushion (1:11 vs rounds)
Asha Asscher (1:11 vs rounds)
Asha Emerald (1:20 vs rounds)
Radiant (1:30 vs rounds)
Oval (1:35 vs rounds)
Pear (1:43 vs rounds)
Flanders (1:43)
ACC (1:51)
OEC (1:60)
Krupps (1:60)
General BTD news: Lab grown Alexandrites will be discontinued: As part of our focusing in on colorless gems, we will be discontinuing our lab grown Alexandrites. We've updated our inventory pages this week after a thorough internal inventory check, and we'll offer the remaining Alexandrites at 20% off starting next week.
Ring Explorer: We've continued improving the User Interface, and nearly have all of BTD's rings and band's into the system. We'll have some new screenshots in the next two weeks, and will start having limited test opportunities in May for those interested to try it out and provide user feedback.
Misc:Where do precious metals come from? So, its' finally time to complete the story.
A few weeks ago, I noted that all of our planet's precious metals came from a massive meteor shower nearly 4 Billion years ago, after our young Earth was still hot but steadily cooling…and as those meteorites melted, the metals such as gold, platinum and palladium then melted and cooled into the veins of precious metals we mine today.
The question remained then - why were (or more correctly, are) meteorites and asteroids running around loaded up with gold and platinum and palladium?
The answer - precious metals like gold and platinum and palladium are elements. In other words, they are not formed by different elements bonding together (ala sapphire, which is Aluminum and Oxygen combined), but are composed of pure atoms (Au, Pt, etc).
And elements beyond hydrogen can only be formed in or by …
stars.
Our sun for example, busies itself everyday transforming hydrogen into helium, and in the process releases lots of very useful sunlight that powers our planet.
But there is a catch - stars can only form elements up to iron. And only very large stars, significantly larger than our sun, are even able to have enough power to form elements as heavy as iron. These large stars are often blue because of their higher temperature:
Once a star grows large enough to start making iron, it's end is near b/c iron has an odd property that basically destroys stars (a whole different post), and shortly after that, it explodes in a massive explosion known as a
supernova.
The after-effects of a star that went supernova:
This explosion, because of it's incredible, incredible force, forces existing elements present to then fuse into elements heavier than iron, and that is where our precious metals such as gold and platinum and palladium are literally born.
The explosion then blows out platinum, palladium, gold, all throughout the area where the star once lived, and as asteroids pass through, they inevitably accumulate some of these precious metals.
Another supernova remnant - this one exploded in 1054 AD:
[credit to NASA and the Hubble telescope for all the above images]
And, if those asteroids then later land on on a young cooling planet like Earth nearly 4 Billion years ago, they complete the transfer of precious metals from a stars fiery demise billions of years ago to planet Earth and eventually onto your finger as a precious ring or wedding band.
Thus, much like Amora gem is natively grown around large carbon rich stars as stardust, precious metals also originate from stars as well.
And now you know where precious metals
really come from
Have a good weekend!
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