It's impossible to list the different uses or varieties of quartz crystals even in a book. Since the ancient times, quartz has been used in almost all spheres of life like healing, protection, jewelry and many other purposes.

Silicon dioxide or quartz occupies more than 60% of the earth's surface. The term crystal is derived from a Greek word "krustallos" which originally meant ice. In the jargon of science, crystal is defined as substance with an organized and repeated arrangement of atoms and molecules extending in all dimensions.

Quartz is found in different shapes and sizes on the earth. Purple quartz is known as amethyst while pink quartz is known as rose quartz. When quartz acquires a yellow color, it known as citrine while colorless quartz is known as rock quartz.

When liquid bubbles and gas gets trapped in quartz, it is called milky quartz. When quartz has specks of blue asbestos or Crocidolite, it is known as Chatoyant quartz. Depending on the inclusions like black tourmaline or gold, quartz is known as tourmalinated quartz or gold quartz. Other varieties of quartz include Tiger's Eye, Moss Agate, Carnelian and Blood stone.

Colorless or transparent form of quartz is known as Rock crystal. The hardness of this stone is 7 on Moh's scale. Interestingly, this hard stone was used to make gemstones and other jewelry items by the ancient people in China, Egypt and Babylon.

There is a lot of interesting trivia about quartz crystal since the beginning of time. People of the fabled island Atlantis used to harness the energy of the sun with crystals. In the Orient, these crystals were cut and used for correcting all kinds of eye sight problems.

The well known scientist, Sir Isaac Newton actually used a crystal to discover the various colors of white light. He refracted the light of the sun through a crystal and measured the resulting rays and their lengths on his wall.

Special quartz arrow heads were used by people near the Arkansas River in 8000 B.C. Ceremonial weapons made out of clear quartz like knives, scrapers and projectile points were made as old as 700 to 1000 A.D.

Quartz also has piezoelectric property which is to say that on the application of a small electric charge, the crystal vibrates. This is the reason why it is used watches. It also has a property known as triboluminescence which means that a spark is produced when two quartz pieces are rubbed together.

Quartz has been around since the beginning of time. Although we have discovered its uses in science, there is a lot of work to be done as far its metaphysical properties and their practical implications are concerned.