Taken by Aram Dulyan (User:Aramgutang)

Corundum (ruby), being created using flame fusion. The material, after passing through a flame at more than 2000°C, melts and fuses into droplets, which crystallise on a support below, forming a single crystal called a boule. The photo shows an artificial crystal in the process of production by this method withdrawn from the flame before completion, taken at the Natural History Museum, London.