Tourmaline, an Electric Gemstone

There are 32 members of the tourmaline group. It is an exclusive group with no new members.

Tourmaline is a prized gemstone that expresses itself in many colors.

An array of specimens from my collection:

Few natural materials have piezoelectric properties, the most well known one being Quartz.

Piezoelectricity is the electric charge created when certain materials are placed under pressure.

Tourmaline is also pyroelectric, meaning it emits voltage when heated or cooled.

Additionally, placing tourmaline under pressure causes it to emit negative ions (which may sound not so great) but it is actually a good thing for your health. Recently I saw a hair straightener with ceramic plates that read "tourmaline ion"... I guess it helps straighten hair?! Thumbs up for Ionic hair, that's just bad ass. I'm going to get one for my beard and maybe for other areas, not sure yet.

When placed in water, tourmaline increases the dissolved oxygen content and is especially good for fish in the tank. If I had a million bucks I'd buy a few wheelbarrows full of tourmaline and throw it in the river. Why would I do this you may ask??? Agriculture runoff which is high in nitrogen gets into the water, creates excess algae growth which then sinks and decomposes using up all the oxygen in the process. Happens all the time... they're called dead zones ("hypoxic zones") because life in the water dies without oxygen.

Black (schorl) and brown (dravite) tourmaline chunks:

A big chunk of watermelon (green and red) tourmaline:

There has been a decent amount of research done regarding this stone, particularly in JAPAN.

Still, there is much to be learned and many tourmalines to see the light of day.

Alas, another beautiful and wonderous expression of our planet.