Amber
Organic gem
Take care.
- Sensitive to heat: Keep it away from heat and sudden changes of temperature, including hot lights and ultrasonic cleaners.
- Fades or changes in light: Keep it in the dark, out of sunlight and bright display lights.
About it
Fossil tree resin, light and warm to the touch: it floats in strong salt water and gives a piney smell when touched with a hot needle. Baltic, Dominican, and Burmese amber may hold trapped insects.
- Type
- Organic gem
- Group
- Fossil resin
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2–2.5
- Specific gravity
- 1.05–1.1
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- resinous
- Crystal system
- Amorphous (no crystal structure)
- Colours
- yellow, honey, orange, brown, red, rarely blue or green
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent, opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- none; conchoidal fracture
- Under UV light
- usually bluish white or yellowish under longwave UV
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.