In this section, Biology, Chemistry and Microstructure of pearls, are as important as the jewelry, qe become. Visitors may examine the properties obtained color, shape and fascination, and also observe in detail the structure of pearls.
How were they trained these precious gifts of nature? For the ancient Romans were frozen tears of the gods. The Greeks attributed to the pearls, lightning occurring at sea. Until the seventh century, scholars argued that the pearls were solidified dew drops, which were captured by the clams.
According to popular belief, the pearls were formed of a grain of sand.
This section dispels these beliefs, introducing visitors to a description of the many species of molluscs and variety of pearls they produce themselves.
Pearls are mainly composed of calcium carbonate and are formed when a foreign particulate matter - any intruder, whether a worm parasite or a small crab - becomes inadvertently and is housed between the mollusk's shell and the inside. This irritation, becomes the center of the nucleus of the pearl, whose inner secretes a substance called nacre or 'mother', which covers the object by creating multiple layers concentrated around the nucleus. The pearl, either natural or planted, it takes the form of core and the successive layers are those that determine their brightness.