Stormlight Spheres and Gems

[Tulir he/him]

So I was thinking and I wondered between the difference of normal gems and spheres. A sphere is just glass around a gemstone, so what allows the spheres to absorb Stormlight. The book says that it is the gem which absorbs Stormlight because cut gems can absorb more, so then couldn't normal gems absorb Stormlight? Why waste glass if it does nothing except protect the gem?

[Arcanist Lupus he/him]

So I was thinking and I wondered between the difference of normal gems and spheres. A sphere is just glass around a gemstone, so what allows the spheres to absorb Stormlight. The book says that it is the gem which absorbs Stormlight because cut gems can absorb more, so then couldn't normal gems absorb Stormlight? Why waste glass if it does nothing except protect the gem?

The gems in spheres are extremely small. Without the glass they'd be nearly impossible to handle.

[Tulir he/him]

Ok, but then why doesn't the other gems in the world absorb Stormlight. If I was Szeth, I would just carry around a couple fist-sized gems and that probably would be enough Stormlight for practically anything.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

they do, it's just that spheres are more commonly available and Szeth would attract attention carrying around a bunch of large infused gems.

[Arcanist Lupus he/him]

Ok, but then why doesn't the other gems in the world absorb Stormlight. If I was Szeth, I would just carry around a couple fist-sized gems and that probably would be enough Stormlight for practically anything.

Fist sized gems aren't any cheaper on Roshar than they are here. Szeth is a slave - how would he afford a couple of fist-sized gems?

[Tulir he/him]

Well, I was thinking that sense Taravangian is a king, he might want to help Szeth, but ya, he would attract attention.

[Djerf he/him]

In the beginning of "death wears white" page 738

Then he took a deep breath , absorbing the Stormlight from a pouch of gemstones at his waist.

That whole interlude has alot to say about figthing whith Stormlight and there might be a upper limit to how much Stormlight Szeth can hold at any one time.

Edited December 8, 2011 by Djerf

[Aeshdan he/him]

Ok, but then why doesn't the other gems in the world absorb Stormlight. If I was Szeth, I would just carry around a couple fist-sized gems and that probably would be enough Stormlight for practically anything.

They do. For example, the gems in Jasnah's fake soulcaster are way bigger than money gems.

I think one reason sphere gems are so small is that you can make sphere gems from the bits you get when you break bigger gems (by draining their light).

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

When they were talking about the Chasmfiend gemhearts, they mentioned that larger gems have a much smaller chance of cracking/breaking. Since the emerald gemhearts are so huge, they're considered a near-inexhaustible supply of food. When Jasnah cracks her smokestone, Shallan notes that it will probably be sold to jewelers who will then cut several smaller gemstones from it. If you look at the quotes from the "Gem Currency System" thread: there's really not much of the gem in chips (a tiny splinter).