Another category of gemologist are the scientists. These are people with degrees in geology, chemistry and sometimes physics. At the heart of gemology is gem identification. Some rubies and garnets are impossible to tell apart from each other by observation, but their values are considerably different. When dealing with whole crystals, the ruby and garnet are easy to distinguish.
Garnets form in the cubic system.
While they vary in shape, they tend to be roundish and the number of sides is always a multiple of four. Rubies on the other hand, form long thin crystals. They are in the hexagonal system and always have six sides. Most of the material that gets cut into gems isn t found in whole crystals, but in broken pieces. Using the techniques of mineralogy, they are easily distinguished from each other.