Thermal Shock From a Hot Car?

[gemhunter250]

I have a question about thermal shock and gemstones. I went from an air conditioned building to my car which was quite hot. Is it possible that I damaged the gemstones that I was wearing by doing this? It was probably 85-90 degrees out today, for reference. I have heard that gemstones can be damaged by thermal shock. Would this type of temperature change be enough to cause damage?

 

[Bron357]

Basically no. The type of temperature needed to affect a gem (except perhaps opal) couldn’t be handled by the human body.
Opals don’t like hot dry conditions and have a water content so if you were to leave an opal in a car in the sun in summer all day, then put in on and put you hand in ice cold water, that could be bad.

 

[peacechick]

One example of thermal shock I can think of relates to the method commonly used to clean silver which is you put your rings with some baking powder on aluminum foil and then pour boiling water over them. Just doing this is fine for most gemstones as they can take high heat. But don’t then go rinse the ring right after with freezing cold water (if you live in a wintery clime, the tap water is very cold). I have heard stories of stones cracking if you do this.

As Bron said, wearing your ring already regulates their temperature. I’ve worn mine outside in -30 Celsius (under wool mittens) and they are still fine.

 

[arkieb1]

I'm going to disagree I think it depends on the temperatures ie if they are severe and the type of stones you are talking about things like kunzite come to mind can indeed react to light and heat. The situation the OP is describing is probably unlikely but if it was a really severe climate that might be a different story. I've read about some types of stones becoming more brittle if exposed to freezing temperatures and then excessive heat. And when jewellers set stones if you accidentally hold some stones under a jewellers torch for too long the heat can crack them. Some heavily treated stones will indeed react to heat and light as well.

 

[Anne111]

Agree, too. Damage can be caused by the temperature-change over time (rather than only absolute temp). A super fast change between minus 10 degree (airplane storage) and India heatwave can damage brittle dense materials such as gems. AC is not that cold though, so if on hand, I rather think a punch on the door handle is m,ore likely.

 

[Deathspi]

Agreeing with @Anne111 and @arkieb1 that stones can definitely be damaged by ‘normal’ temperatures. I remember reading somewhere ages ago from the GIA that mentioned that you shouldn’t even place a tanzanite on a cool glass table(!) I’ve also had the ‘pleasure’ of seeing gems get wrecked from thermal shock, and I always urge people to be careful with things like hand washing with cold water etc. Definitely worse with some stones than others though, thankfully.

 

[gemhunter250]

If it helps to make the situation more clear, I was coming from the jeweler and had a few loose stones in gem boxes and a few pieces of jewelry that had just been set with a colored stone that were also in boxes. These boxes, both with the loose stones and the jewelry, were inside of my handbag. Does this decrease the chance that they were damaged? I had some loose tsavorites and a loose spinel and a spinel ring, if that helps.

 

[Arcadian]

If it helps to make the situation more clear, I was coming from the jeweler and had a few loose stones in gem boxes and a few pieces of jewelry that had just been set with a colored stone that were also in boxes. These boxes, both with the loose stones and the jewelry, were inside of my handbag. Does this decrease the chance that they were damaged? I had some loose tsavorites and a loose spinel and a spinel ring, if that helps.

It would be a bit different if you left them in your car for an undetermined amount of time. But from what you said, and the type of stones, there's probably not an issue there.

 

[lilmosun]

Your first post said you were wearing the items and the latter said they were loose in bags and boxes your handbag? Is it possible that the damaged was caused by contact and not an extreme tempurature change?

 

[gemhunter250]

Hi lilmosun. I realized that wearing was not the correct word to use. My apologies for the confusion. I have not noticed any damage but I was hoping to get more information about the possibility of thermal shock.

 

[gemhunter250]

I would also like to add that all of the gems and pieces of jewelry were kept separate and in their own boxes that were in my purse.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Gemhunter, you have the stones, are they damaged?

Certainly stones can crack from thermal shock, but not from going indoors to outdoors. Most stones when being cut are held on the dop by wax. The dop stick is heated up to the point that the wax melts and flows. This is way hotter than you could touch with your finger. Then the stone is placed on the dop and wax. Instantly the stone gets hot, too hot to touch.
Washing your hands, going from indoors to outdoors will never expose the stone to such a drastic and quick temperature change.

Very rarely, a stone will crack from the dopping process. Tourmaline is one I have seen a few times over the many many tourmaline I have cut. These stones that do fail, normally also crack as you start to cut them, as they have a built in stress. Stones that are very heat sensitive like opal are not held on the dop with hot wax.

There is also a surface heat created in the cutting and polishing of a stone. If you stone survived the initially dopping and cutting process, you can be assured that temperature changes you will encounter will not effect the stone.