[Jewelry making - Article 00365] - Re: [Orchid] The Beilby Layer

[Dick Friesen]

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    The Beilby Layer has pretty much been rejected for gem stones by the
    scientific community because of no adequate explanation of where
    there energy needed to satisfy the requirements for the molecular
    work function can come from, friction doesn't hack it. When the
    theory was originally proposed, work functions weren't understood, or
    known. 

    The hydroxide arguments are known to be valid for glass but I know
    of no research that shows that it exists or would work on any other
    stone, glass has several properties that make it unique. 

    Also heat, in general, isn't required for polishing. Although it is
    generated is many of the ways to polish gemstones. Think about the
    polish that can be attained by tumbling (by some people). Some work
    was done several years ago at Lawrence Livermore National Lab on
    polishing a ruby for a laser. The ruby had been ground to a specific
    shape using a computer controlled diamond grinder but there was no
    polishing step available at the time that would not have altered the
    shape. The ruby was polished by circulating a polishing compound in a
    liquid around the ruby, it wasn't fast, but the required polish was
    attained and no heat generated. I don't remember the polish or
    liquid. 

    Work with electron microscopes mostly show the scratches on polished
    surfaces although there are exceptions. Add to that the fact that
    stones will begin to show a good polish long before the mathematical
    requirements for a polish are met and you are guarantied to be able
    to get more than one opinion on what is going on. 

    Just to confuse the issue a little more, consider glass. I don't
    know what the scientific requirements would be for defining a liquid
    but for all practical purposes glass is a liquid. Electron microscope
    analyses has shown cerium oxide molecules under the surface of
    polished glass. The surface had to flow for that to occur. But as a
    liquid, the surface work function doesn't apply. 

    But consider agate. Agate is a fibrous material, to get surface flow
    you not only have to get molecular motion, you also have to get
    molecular motion across fiber boundaries. I know of no adequate
    explanation of how this could occur, and since agate will polish very
    well with no heat applied at all, I will reject the surface flow
    theory until someone can demonstrate how and under what conditions it
    could work. 

Dick Friesen
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