Tourmalike

Tourmalike is a common name for a man made crystalline-like material used for making gemstones and resembling the natural gems known as tourmalines with the exception that they will appear to be different colors under various light sources. Tourmalike is pinkish-purple in daylight and grass green in older fluorescent lights. There are other colors seen with other types of lights as well ranging from red, blue-green, blue & deep purple. The color change is more dramatic than any natural gem. The color is caused by small amounts of rare elements in the material from the lanthanide series of the periodic table of elements. Hardness is similar to amethyst, and refractive index (which causes sparkle in cut gems) is like tourmaline.