Properties and applications of amber. Extraction, processing and use of amber Where is amber used

29.04.2024 -

Let's talk about what amber is, how and where it is mined.

This resin will take a very long time before it becomes stone.

There has been heated debate among scientists for a long time about what amber is. But now this is known for sure.

Amber is a resin. It is mined like a fossil mineral. Used as and in . In ancient times, this mineral was used as fuel because it burns well.

Due to different climatic conditions, the mineral has its own unique color in each area. Therefore, Baltic stone cannot be confused with Caribbean or any other stone. Each stone has its own regional characteristics.

Origin of amber

Even ancient scientists came to the conclusion that amber is of plant origin. The Roman scientists Pliny and Tacitus pointed out the specific plant smell when rubbing the mineral, as well as the fact that small animals also smelled it. Tacitus believed that amber was the frozen juice of plants that fell into the sea.

The 16th century German mineralogist Agricola believed that the mineral was of inorganic origin.

In the 18th century, the theory of plant origin was confirmed by the Swede Linnaeus, a famous botanist. A little later, Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov came to the same conclusion.

Scientists have proven that the amber stone that is now mined was formed more than 40 million years ago from amber-bearing pines, that is, it is of plant origin. At that time they grew in North America, Greenland, and Eurasia. Under the influence of climatic conditions, resin was released, which petrified and fell over the years. The coming sea carried her away from the shores.

In this article:

Amber was formed from hardened tree resin. It has many different shades, shapes, and is famous for its healing and magical properties. Where is amber used?

In jewelry and souvenirs

Most often I use amber in jewelry production. The stone is used to make beautiful, unusual jewelry. It is processed, which gives the stone radiance, shape, and shine. Amber products are varied: pendants, beads, brooches, earrings, rings, bracelets. In a precious frame, amber looks simply magical. There is amber with inclusions of insects, bubbles, feathers, it is very valuable and original.

Amber stone

Amber jewelry is made by hand, making it unique. Amber beads and bracelets are used not only for beauty, but also for medicinal purposes.

Amber is used to make souvenirs: figurines, watches, boxes, pyramids and even chess. Amber is used to make amulets for cars and drivers. Plates that are made by hand look interesting. They can depict castles, maps of countries, shrines, and paintings. They also make cups, spoons, and forks from amber. It is believed that such dishes neutralize poisons and create a positive mood, and also look very beautiful, festive and warm.

Souvenir keychains, a mirror framed with amber inlay, icons, candlesticks, pens, magnets, bonsai trees - from such a variety you can choose an excellent gift for your family and friends. Amber souvenirs are not only aesthetically beautiful, but will also bring joy, happiness, health and good luck.

In medicine and cosmetology

The use of amber is in great demand in medicine, as its medicinal properties have long been valued. It contains a lot of useful substances: iron, potassium, iodine, zinc.

Amber oil is used in the following cases:

For treating injuries, sprains, and warming up muscles.
For massage of the neck, back, lower back. Massage warms and relieves pain.
The oil is rubbed for pneumonia, colds, bronchitis, it has an expectorant effect.
Rubbing helps with arthritis, myositis, osteitis, the oil relieves pain and restores metabolic processes.

Amber stone is used to treat headaches, tumors, and the thyroid gland. It is believed that if you apply the stone to your throat, it will help treat the endocrine system and fight wrinkles.

Amber powder is widely used in medicine and cosmetology:

Helps restore skin, improve firmness and elasticity, remove pigmentation, and promote rejuvenation.
The powder is also used to make tooth powder, which is used to treat gums.
To treat hemorrhoids, amber powder is mixed with honey and ghee, heated in a water bath, and candles are made. They relieve pain, inflammation and swelling.
Powdered suppositories are also used to treat the cervix.
Amber powder is used to strengthen hair and exfoliate.
For itching after insect bites.
For purulent ulcers and wounds.
For the treatment of cracked feet.

Amber is also used in folk medicine. Decoctions and infusions of amber help fight intestinal diseases, bronchitis, tracheitis, insomnia, and tuberculosis. Compresses are used to treat purulent wounds.

Application of amber

Other Applications

Amber is popular in art. If waste remains during the processing of amber, it is used to decorate paintings. After all, the shades of amber fit harmoniously into nature; autumn or sunshine looks especially beautiful in paintings.

There is a masterpiece of art in the world - the Amber Room. Its height is 7.8 meters, area - 100 square meters. Six tons of amber were used to decorate the room, and the huge nugget that was used here weighed about a kilogram. The room looks simply divine, the shine of the stones is emphasized by beautiful candlesticks, figurines, leaves, flowers - everything is made of nuggets. The Amber Room is considered the eighth wonder of the world.

What is amber? This beautiful and golden fossil amber formed from resin. First, it is released from the bark of a tree in the form of a sticky liquid, and then through polymerization it turns into a solid. amber. In the open air it gradually collapses. That is why amber must be quickly buried in dense sedimentary rocks. Today, about twenty deposits of amber are known, and the most famous deposits are located in the Baltic countries and the Dominican Republic.

Thousands contain organic remains. These golden graves house a variety of animals, including insects, crustaceans, tadpoles, lizards, annelids, snails and spiders. In 1997, a piece of Dominican amber was valued at $50,000 because it contained a frog. Hair that belonged to representatives of mammals was also found in amber. This preservation gives us some insight into the ecosystem that existed thousands of years ago, before the Great Flood.

Thanks to its aesthetic and scientific qualities, the beautiful and fragrant blue amber from the Dominican Republic is the most precious of all types of amber. If we talk about its fossil content, it is a real monument of the past. And this is not only because in this amber contains ten times more insects compared to Baltic amber, but also because it is 90% more transparent than other types of amber. Some of the animals that have become fossils are extinct forms, but this is hardly strong evidence for progressive evolution.

Scientists even managed to detect the DNA of preserved animals and plants: “Ancient life is captured in amber in such minute detail that you can even find DNA fragments from the organisms frozen in it.”. For a scientist who supports the theory of creation, the discovery of DNA elements is not surprising. But for Darwinists this fact seems simply amazing, since, in their opinion, age amber is many millions of years old.

According to the evolutionary definition of age, the oldest known amber containing insects is 146 million years old. What was found in this amber were animal forms that have not changed at all since then. Evolutionary biologists are constantly amazed by the fact that the creatures in this transparent sarcophagus can be identified to genus or even species. For example, small oak flowers discovered are said to be “90 million years old,” but despite such a long period, they are still oak flowers. The same can be said about the oldest feather found (this feather is 100% a feather, and not a transition from a scale), about the oldest mushroom, about a mosquito, about a black midge, and also about a blastophaga (fig wasp). All that is found in these organisms is a lack of change (“stagnation”) or the possibility of extinction. This does not in any way support the theory of macroevolution, but it is certainly consistent with the expectations of creationists. Understanding what amber is and how it was formed, the theory of evolution has no chance of attributing its age to a million years.

In conclusion, I would like to add that just as fossils do not support macroevolution, animals and plants found in "ancient" amber contradict it. Creation scientists are not particularly surprised by the discovery of plants, animals and DNA fragments in amber, given the youth of our planet. Moreover, creationists insist on dating these fossils using radiocarbon dating.

A similar proposal has been made to date "70 million year old" dinosaur soft tissue recently discovered in eastern Montana (see Origins Questions: "The Big Problem About Dinosaur Tissue"). But evolutionary scientists do not react to this in any way. And why? After all, the search for truth must actively follow where the evidence leads.

Links

* Frank Sherwin is a zoologist who regularly lectures at seminars for the Institute for Creation Research.

Probably the most mysterious and unusual stone is amber, because some of its varieties are a real rarity, although, in most cases, its price is affordable for a person with any income level. It is noteworthy that in regions where there is a lot of amber, the local population does not consider it a “precious” at all and assigns it the function of rosin if something needs to be sealed or soldered, because its extraction is not particularly difficult, because “Baltic gold” From time to time, the icy sea “spits out” onto the coast.

Description of the stone

Amber consists predominantly of carbon, the share of which is just over 70%. Its chemical composition also contains oxygen and hydrogen in equal parts and small admixtures of nitrogen, sulfur and ash, and from this we can conclude that this stone belongs to high-molecular compounds. Naturally, the Baltic Sea is not the only source of amber, but it cannot be said that it is widespread, but, for example, in the Dominican Republic it is found, and the stone is shaped like frozen tears, and therefore is valued higher.

Colors and varieties

There is an opinion that amber is represented only by all shades of yellow, but in fact, the palette of colors is much wider, and there are about four hundred of them. It is clear that golden, yellow and orange stones occupy leading positions, and the epithet “sunny” refers specifically to them, but the cost of such specimens is usually low, although it is directly influenced by the size of the stone and the presence of foreign inclusions in it , and processing method. The classic version of amber is a stone that has the color of wax and has a high degree of transparency. Yellow-red gems are also considered “classics of the genre.”

Calling amber a stone is not entirely correct, since in the 19th century, scientists around the world finally came to the consensus that it is the hardened resin of pine trees. Why doesn’t the resin become amber now?! There is an explanation for this: about 50 million years ago, on a separate territory of the Baltic Sea there was land on which relict pine trees grew. But a sharp warming occurred, which caused an intense release of resin, and it became the main structural element of amber, and if a part of a plant or an insect can be found inside the stone, then it becomes much more valuable than ordinary samples.

In what ways has not the “gold of the Baltic” been mined? And even to this day, some of them are used, for example, simple collecting on beaches and shallows, and sometimes nets with a long handle are used for these purposes, through which algae is caught with ancient resin entangled in it. Naturally, the industrial extraction of amber has a more global scale and is fundamentally different from the methods that literally every “sea gold miner” can use.

Healing properties of the stone

In ancient times, it was believed that diseases that amber could not cure did not exist in nature. This opinion has survived to this day, therefore, the “gold of the Baltic” has not lost any of its medicinal properties, and its active use in folk medicine is a clear confirmation of this. First of all, everyone who watches their figure and controls their weight should pay attention to it, because constantly wearing an amber bracelet or necklace will help speed up metabolism and cleanse the body. And people engaged in mental work can safely take a natural biostimulant - succinic acid, sold in any pharmacy.

Heavy smokers should consider purchasing an amber cigarette holder, which partially neutralizes nicotine and reduces the risk of lung cancer. Amber crumb is included in medications, the most effective of which is amber tincture, which is a real panacea for colds and especially pulmonary ailments. It is noteworthy that it is not only the stone itself that heals, but also the smoke generated when it burns. It is this divine incense that can relieve old coughs and is very helpful for asthma.

Magical properties of Amber

Amber is a solar stone, and from this it follows that it can be considered a symbol of joy, fun and happiness. It is not for nothing that many people assign it the role of a talisman, because in essence, it is a powerful amulet that can protect from enemies and increase health. This is the stone of all optimists and creators, as well as those who in life trust more in their hearts than in their minds. It enhances intuition, brings peace to the home, and makes a person more successful. In general, we can highlight several properties unique to amber:

Meaning of Zodiac Signs

No woman can resist the beauty of amber, but every man can handle the purchase of amber beads or any other jewelry. But wearing them will not benefit everyone, because there is such a science - astrology, and it must be taken into account. Naturally, the ruling planet of amber is the Sun, which means that it is most suitable for representatives of the Fire Element - Sagittarius, Leo and Aries.

Representatives of other zodiac constellations can also benefit from the favor of the “sun” stone, with the exception of Taurus. Of course, wearing amber jewelry will not seriously affect your well-being, but the benefits from it will tend to zero, since all Taurus are not able to react properly to this stone, and in especially severe cases it even irritates them and distracts them from something very important.

In general, the division according to “zodiac signs” is very arbitrary, since the “gold of the Baltic” can find its owner on its own, because if the stone does not suit a person, then he will certainly feel it and refuse to wear it. One can only envy representatives of the Fire Element, because amber enhances their already stormy temperament. For Water and Air signs, this stone can be worn as jewelry and used for healing. Earth signs themselves are not particularly enthusiastic and active, and gigantic resin can make them even lazier and more indifferent, so it is better for them to choose other talismans.

Is amber classified as a precious stone?

Not a single type of amber, even those with a rare color, is classified as a precious stone. Yes, it can have a high cost, but amber will never stand on a par with emeralds and diamonds, because it is a stone of organic origin and its structure is far from perfect, since it is an amorphous substance that does not have a crystalline structure.

How to spot a fake

A skillful fake can be purchased both from a street seller and in an expensive jewelry store, and in order not to become a victim of deception and not pay money for a piece of plastic, you need to know the following:

There are too many air bubbles in fakes.
Uniform coloring of all the beads of the product is a sign of falsification.
Stone of natural origin has a more interesting color and unusual pattern.
Amber is always warm to the touch and cannot be scratched with a fingernail.
Plastic or glass beads, passed off as amber, are too heavy.
If you rub amber in your hands, it will begin to exude the aroma of resin.

The question of the origin of amber has concerned humanity since ancient times. At the dawn of human civilization, mythical origin was attributed to it, and this gave rise to countless myths, legends and beliefs. In particular, Sophocles (circa 496-406 BC) believed that amber was formed from the tears of birds mourning the ancient hero Meleager. Popular literature about amber invariably describes the poetic myth of Phaeton, written by the Roman poet Ovid (beginning of our era). Amber is the tears of the wife and daughters of the Sun god, who mourned Phaeton. Phaeton's mother and his sisters grew into the ground and turned into trees. Their tears dripped from the branches and, under the influence of the sun's heat, hardened and turned into amber.

The very first plausible information about the origin of amber belongs to the ancient Roman writer and scientist Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD). In his “Natural History”, he noted the complete inconsistency of the fantastic views of ancient predecessors and substantiated the plant origin of amber: amber is the resin of conifers hardened under the influence of cold, time or sea water. As indisputable evidence of this, the scientist cited the following arguments:

when rubbed, amber smells like resin;
it burns with a smoky flame, similar to the resin of coniferous trees;
contains insect inclusions.

It would seem that a simple explanation of the origin of amber, which is now understandable to every schoolchild, has been interpreted differently by scientists for thousands of years. So, already in the 2nd century. AD It was generally accepted that amber was ambergris, derived from the secretions of whales or the day-tired Sun, which flowed into the ocean at dusk, where the waves churned it like butter from cream.

In the Middle Ages, amber and the problem of its origin did not attract the attention of researchers. Over the past centuries, the issue under consideration has moved even further away from its objective resolution compared to ancient times.

Since the XVI century. interest in amber and questions of its genesis grew more and more. The German mineralogist and metallurgist Georg Agricola (1494-1555) believed that amber was formed from the liquid bituminous substance of the earth's interior, which subsequently hardened in air. It is believed that G. Agricola in 1546 first discovered “amber resin” in the products of amber distillation. And Aurifaber. generally supporting the views of G. Agricola, he refuted the possibility of a plant origin of amber by the absence of trees on the shores of the Baltic and on the islands from which resin could flow into the sea. The theory of the bituminous origin of amber by G. Agricola was dominant until the end of the 16th-17th centuries. Throughout all subsequent eras until the 18th century. the question of the origin of amber was resolved from the standpoint of its organic and inorganic origin.

M.V. Lomonosov scientifically refuted the arguments of supporters of the inorganic formation of amber and proved its plant origin - from the resin of coniferous trees. In his treatise “On the Layers of the Earth,” he wrote: “Amber is a product of the Plant Kingdom.” The scientist told us in poetic form how fossils could get into amber (translation by M.V. Lomonosov of the Roman poet Martial):

An ant walking in the poplar shade
I got my foot stuck in the sticky resin.
Although he was despicable among people in his life.
After death, in amber, they became precious.

Proponents of the organic origin of amber interpreted the mechanism of its occurrence differently. Thus, K. Rappolt, a professor of physics at the former University of Königsberg, believed that amber on the Baltic coast was formed during forest fires in the coastal zone, when resin seeping from tree trunks flowed onto the forest floor and melted (at this time various insects could get into it) . The resin was then covered with sand or surf and carried out to sea. Among the fantastic explanations of organic origin, we note the idea of the famous naturalist J.L. Buffon, according to which amber was formed from forest honey contained in the hollows of trees. As a result of the death of the latter, the honey was buried in the soil, where, under the influence of sulfuric acid, it hardened and turned into amber.

The origin of amber - modern opinion

From the beginning of the 19th century. and to this day, no one doubts the idea of the organic origin of amber. Scientific disputes are ongoing regarding the detailed mechanism of formation of certain mineral types of fossil resins in general and amber-succinite in particular at different stages of formation, the origin of succinic acid and color shades, paleogeographic and paleolandscape settings, the time of formation of amber, the reasons for such an abundant flow of oleoresin (succinosis) geologically simultaneously in a number of Cretaceous and Paleogene eras and over vast territories in different parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

The resin from fossil resin-producing trees did not immediately turn into amber. Since those ancient times, it has gone through an extremely complex and long path of physical and chemical transformations and spatial movements, conventionally divided into three time stages (stages).

At the first stage of these transformations, oxidation of resin acids and hardening of resin, which fell on the daytime surface under conditions of a warm climate, moderate humidity, exposure to light rays and the presence of oxygen, took place. The evaporation of volatile substances of resin was carried out due to the oxidation of turpentines and terpene hydrocarbons with the formation of peroxides and hydroperoxides of terpenes. These processes of resin hardening directly in the “amber” forest took place over hundreds of years.

The next stage, which lasted thousands (possibly up to a million) years, is characterized by the accumulation of oleoresin in the soil of the “amber” forest and the formation of so-called primary biogenic (eluvial) deposits, which have little practical significance. In the sandy loam soils of the “amber” forest, intensive decomposition of wood enriched with resin occurred. As a result of oxidative processes, rosin acids formed a number of isomers with the same chemical composition, but with a change in properties. At this stage, the solubility of fossil resins in various organic compounds decreased significantly, the melting point increased, the hardness increased and, in general, the resin began to acquire the basic properties of amber. But it was not amber yet. During the burial of resin, depending on the specific paleolandscape conditions (dry or swampy areas), fossilization of fossil resins could lead to their carbonization, blackening and even destruction (when merging with the host coals). In cases of reducing swamp environments, where the degree of oxidation of resins was clearly insufficient, fossil resins were subsequently formed that differed significantly in their properties from succinite amber (for example, gedanite).

The final stage of amber formation covers the longest period of time, thousands, perhaps millions of years. It began with the erosion and redeposition of the soils of the “amber” forest, the erosion of primary biogenic amber deposits. The latter, like the ancient surface on which trees abundantly producing oleoresin grew, have not been preserved in the Baltic region to date. They were completely destroyed by further geological and physical-geographical processes in the late Paleogene and Neogene. Under the influence of external (exogenous) processes occurring on the earth's surface, fossil resin (“resin of centuries”), together with the products of destruction of the soils of “amber” forests, was carried into river valleys, through which the material was transported to sea bodies of water. The sea basin was the final point where the final transformation of oxidized resin into amber took place under the alkaline conditions of the seabed and with the participation of glauconite. It was the sea reservoir that contributed to the formation of specific structural rearrangements that determined the characteristic essential properties of succinite amber. The formation of succinic acid is probably associated with this stage. Fossil resin (for example, gedanite, retinite) transferred to the sea basin from the swampy areas of the “amber” forest, being still insufficiently oxidized, still could not acquire the characteristic properties of real amber-succinite.

In the sea and estuarine parts of rivers, depending on the bottom topography, coastal wave activity and sea currents, periodic advances (transgressions) and retreats (regressions) of the sea, there was a redistribution and burial of fossil resin in sandy-silty sediments. As a result, in the late Eocene - early Oligocene (about 40-30 million years ago), marine, coastal-sea and lagoon-deltaic, the richest in content and now buried placers of amber were formed on the slopes of the shield.

In subsequent geological epochs, right up to geological modernity, as a result of changes in the outlines of sea basins, the general and uneven rise of land and many other natural causes, the amber-bearing placers already formed at the end of the Eocene were and are still subject to erosion and redeposition. As a result, we have a whole complex of younger redeposited amber placers. There are Upper Paleogene (lower and upper Oligocene), Neogene - marine, lagoonal-deltaic, lacustrine, alluvial, etc., as well as Pleistocene - lacustrine-glacial, glacial, eluvial-deluvial, aeolian, modern channel placers; in the Baltic states there are scatterings of modern sea beaches.