Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can make it pale blue or golden brown to yellow-orange.

[7] Topaz is often treated with heat or radiation to make it a deep blue, reddish-orange, pale green, pink, or purple.

[11] The word "topaz" is usually believed to be derived (via Old French: Topace and Latin: Topazius) from the Greek Τοπάζιος (Topázios) or Τοπάζιον (Topázion),[12] from Τοπαζος.

[16] In the Middle Ages, the name topaz was used to refer to any yellow gemstone, but in modern times it denotes only the silicate described above.

[19] During the Middle Ages, it was believed that attaching the topaz to the left arm protected the owner from any curse and warded off the evil eye.

It was also believed that wearing topaz increased body heat, which would enable people to relieve a cold or fever.

[21] In India, people believed topaz granted beauty, intelligence, and longevity when worn over the heart.

Topaz is a part of the second rank of gemstones, or semiprecious stones, accompanying aquamarine, morganite, and tourmaline.

Another method uses a combination of amorphous Al2O3, Na2SiF6, and water which is heated to a temperature of 500 °C, put under a pressure of 4000 bars, and left for 9 days.

[26] To care for a topaz gemstone, it is best to avoid ultrasonic cleaners or steam as this could produce small fractures within the crystal.

To choose an ethically sourced topaz gemstone, it is recommended to search for a stone that the seller knows the origin of.

Brazilian imperial topaz can often have a bright yellow to deep golden brown hue, sometimes even violet.

Many brown or pale topazes are treated to make them bright yellow, gold, pink, or violet colored.

[36]Although very hard, topaz must be treated with greater care than some other minerals of similar hardness (such as corundum) because of a weakness of atomic bonding of the stone's molecules along one or another axial plane (whereas diamonds, for example, are composed of carbon atoms bonded to each other with equal strength along all of its planes).

[37] Topaz has a relatively low index of refraction for a gemstone, and so stones with large facets or tables do not sparkle as readily as stones cut from minerals with higher refractive indices, though quality colorless topaz sparkles and shows more "life" than similarly cut quartz.

[39] Another method of distinguishing topaz from quartz is by placing the unset stone in a solution of bromoform or methylene iodide.

It typically crystallizes in granitic pegmatites[7] or in vapor cavities in rhyolite lava flows including those at Topaz Mountain in western Utah and Chivinar in South America.

It can be found with fluorite and cassiterite in various areas including the Ural and Ilmensky mountains of Russia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Pakistan, Italy, Sweden, Japan, Brazil, Mexico; Flinders Island, Australia; Nigeria, Ukraine and the United States.

[42] Colorless and light-blue varieties of topaz are found in Precambrian granite in Mason County, Texas[43] within the Llano Uplift.

[46] The waste material is discarded using large machines to transport it away while the valuable ore is washed and sorted to recover the topaz gems.

[11] The introduction of a large open pit mine into an environment leads to modification of the land around it to make it accessible to workers.

[47] These loose sediments can be washed away to other areas, cutting off water features, destroying farmland, and creating a threat of landslides.