Ruby: Where does the color "red" come from?

Recognized as a symbol of passion, enthusiasm and duteous love, ruby got its name from the Latin word "Ruber", which originally meant red. European aristocrats have treated ruby as a testimony to marriage. Even nowadays, it is a custom in western countries that people named the 40th anniversary of a couple’s marriage "Ruby wedding" in praise of the long lasting love.

In mineralogy, ruby is actually the fused alumina whose major component is aluminum oxide. Fused alumina is the most durable crystalline aluminum oxide at present with super hardness. If Measured in Arabic numerals from 1 to 10, the comparative hardness of diamond is 10, next to which is fused alumina, the hardness is 9. That is to say, only diamond is capable to carve on the surface of fused alumina, thus goes the saying that "Diamond is the King of Gemstone, and ruby is the Queen".

Miners used to hold the view that dim ruby can appear bright red if buried under the earth, and that ruby is a member of aluminum which developed to its fullest extent. However, their points proved wrong except for the fact that the deeper the color of a ruby is, the higher the value.

In spite of growing up and turn red like a seed as people imagined, ruby gets its color due to mixed elements in minerals. Pure fused alumina is colorless; it is the micro substances including Chromium, iron, titanium, manganese and vanadium that changed its original color. Chromium is the key factor that resulted in the color red of ruby. 

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