The Physical Properties Of Diamonds

Diamonds are a highly valuable stone mainly because they are hard and have a high dispersion of light. They are transparent crystals made from the most stable form of carbon and it’s the only stone out there that is made from a single element. It is because of all these innumerable properties that diamonds are a big asset to the jewelry business.

Diamonds happen to be the hardest naturally occurring mineral compared to the other known ones. The reasoning behind this is because there are very few substances that can actually scratch the surface of the diamond. It is because of its unique properties, it’s used as a finish to polish other materials and is also used to cut diamonds of different kinds.

The Moh’s Scale of Mineral Hardness rates diamonds as a 10 because of its unique ability to withstand the wear of tear of everyday use, it’s resistance towards scratches, not just this, the ability for it to shine for a very long period after polishing is the reason why jewelers offer money back guarantee on every diamond sale. Let’s not forget, most of the wedding and engagement rings these days are diamonds.

Diamonds which are not aesthetic enough to meet the requirements in forming a jewel are put to industrial use. They can be used to cut, grind as they cut, polish and abrade any material.

Diamonds do have a very high resistance to breakage when one compares it with other gemstones. But if you were to compare it with other supplies of engineering it has been found to be fragile and they remain fragile when placed in certain positions.

Diamonds have good thermal conducting properties, and are used often as electrical insulators. Research and development is in the process as they are interested in knowing their potential as semiconductors. There are a couple of diamonds that are already being used in this regard and a few blue diamonds are being used as natural semiconductors.

The lattice composition of a diamond’s crystal is very strong and it permits only certain impurities to pass through it during the creation process. Impurities from Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Boron, Phosphorous and Beryllium are allowed to pass through in large quantities to modify the diamonds physical appearance.

The most popular diamonds which are of true value are the colorless, yellow or brown ones. The rarest color for a diamond is the blue one, followed by green, black, transparent white, pink, violet, orange, purple and red which are quite rare too. Diamonds that are black in color are not really black diamonds, they just appear to be darker. Diamonds also appear in shades of grey.

Diamonds that are colored contain impurities from other elements and have structural irregularities, pure diamonds on the other hand are colorless and transparent. For example, Nitrogen is the smallest form of impurity in diamonds and also the most common one. Depending on its quantity in the diamond the diamonds appear to be yellow or sometimes even brown.

The blue grey color in diamonds is due to the presence of Boron. A green shade is caused due to the irradiation of alpha particles. When the diamonds appear to be brown, pink or red in rare occasions it could be due to plastic deformation of the diamonds.

A colored diamond can raise or lessen a diamond’s value at the market, despite the fact of whether the diamond is a blood diamond or a non conflict diamond. This comes down to the aesthetic qualities of the color, the intensity as well as the visual appearance of the defects caused during the coloring process. Blue or pink diamonds are the ones that are of extreme value, and the white diamonds might lose their value if they have a slight yellow shade.

Published By:

Private Pawn – Robert Johnson