PPT ON PEARLS

Submitted by
N.Chaitanya A.Giriprasad T.Jaswanth D.Digvijay N.Chethan A.Gowtham

PEARLS
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers.

 The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes of pearls like baroque pearls occur. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries, and because of this, the word pearl has become a metaphor for something very rare, fine, admirable, and valuable.

 The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but they are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as natural pearls. Chemical formula of pearl is CaCO3

Physical properties
The unique luster of pearls depends upon the reflection, refraction, and diffraction of light from the translucent layers. pearls especially cultured freshwater pearls can be dyed yellow, green, blue, brown, pink, purple, or black.

 The very best pearls have a metallic mirror-like luster. Because pearls are made primarily of calcium carbonate they can be dissolved in vinegar. As calcium carbonate is susceptible to even a weak acid solution the crystals of calcium carbonate react with the acetic acid in the vinegar to form calcium acetate and carbon dioxide.

Types of pearls:
1.Freshwater pearls 2.Saltwater pearls

Freshwater pearls:
Freshwater and saltwater pearls may sometimes look quite similar, but they come from different sources.

The exterior of the shell of Margaritifera margaritifera

Shell of one species of freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera

 Freshwater pearls form in various species of freshwater mussels, family Unionidae, which live in lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of fresh water. These freshwater pearl mussels occur not only in hotter climates, but also in colder more temperate areas. Most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China.

Saltwater pearls:
Saltwater pearls grow within pearl oysters, family Pteriidae, which live in oceans. Saltwater pearl oysters are usually cultivated in protected lagoons or volcanic atolls.

 Nacreous pearls, the best-known and most commercially-significant pearls, are primarily produced by two groups of molluscan bivalves or clams. A nacreous pearl is made from layers of nacre, by the same living process as is used in the secretion of the mother of pearl which lines the shell

 A "natural pearl" or "wild pearl" is one that forms without any human intervention at all, in the wild, and is very rare. A cultured pearl is formed in a pearl farm, using human intervention as well as natural processes.

The pearl oyster lives in the sea, while the other - a very different group of bivalves lives in freshwater; these are the river mussels such as the freshwater pearl mussel.

A black pearl and a shell of the black-lipped pearl oyster

A pearl being extracted from an akoya pearl oyster

Comparing a cross-section of a cultured pearl, upper, with a natural pearl, lower

 The largest pearl known was found in the Philippines in 1934 and is known as the Pearl of Lao Tzu. It is a naturally-occurring, nonnacreous, calcareous concretion (pearl) from a giant clam. Other pearls from giant clams are known to exist, but this is a particularly large one, weighing 14 lb (6.4 kg).

Pearl of Lao Tzu, the largest known pearl came from a giant clam

Recent pearl production

In 2010, China overtook Japan in akoya pearl production. Japan has all but ceased its production of akoya pearls smaller than 8 mm.

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