I think the largest disclosed un-certified gem right now is a 155 carat diamond. Which, sure, it’s a big gem. But if it was possible to make unreasonably large gems, we’d be seeing one-piece emerald kitchen counter slabs on the market right now and people with enough means would be making gemstone windows.
So, why is the largest synthetic gemstone still ‘only’ palm-sized? Is it a matter of scaling the size of equipment? The cost of materials? Some inherent fragility in the gems once they reach a certain size?
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Diamonds require very particular conditions, but we can already grow other gems far beyond the size of a palm.
https://res.cloudinary.com/engineering-com/image/upload/sapphire_boule_01_f0hlst.jpg
That picture is from 2015 and the two cyllinders to either side of the guy are lab grown 300kg (1.5 million carat) sapphires.
Full Article:
https://www.engineering.com/story/new-technique-grows-worlds-largest-sapphire-crystal
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