by Peter M. Barczak (Author)
Amber is a fossilized plant resin from millions of years ago, a mixture of organic and inorganic compounds. It can be classified as a mineraloid, i.e. a natural substance different from minerals. It contains groups of various elements and mixtures of chemical compounds. Mineraloids include pearls, jet, obsidian, opal. Baltic amber, also referred to as succinite, was probably created by damage to trees, as a result of which resin, containing compounds protecting tree structure, leaked. Baltic amber is a complex molecular structure which, as a result of millions of years of transformations, has acquired a unique structure, additionally enriched with plant compounds occurring on earth over millions of years. Succinite because that is how Baltic amber is described in the scientific language, shows supramolecular structures and each amber study reveals new compounds known from plants.