What do a Colored Diamond Mean?

Diamonds themselves are symbolical gems, with their archetypal loveliness and centuries-long relationship to romance and marriage. At the same time, the definite color of diamond a couple may prefer can be translated by the symbolization of each shade.
Fancy colored diamonds can be preferred by symbolic colors, including white, yellow, pink, black, blue, brown, green, red and purple.

White is the archetypal colorless diamond, which shows purity, spotlessness, quiet, respect, and traditionalism. Yellow, canary shades confirm pleasure and delight as well as insight, closeness, and prop up.

Pink hues are spokesperson of love, romance, gorgeousness, and joy, as well as womanliness and flimsiness in pastel shades. While many individuals affiliate the color black with sickness and death, it can also stand for superiority and present-day style, as well as a link to the soil and earth.

Blue shades characteristically stand for youthfulness, mysticism, stillness, and faithfulness, though they can also be used as a bride's "something blue" on her wedding day. Champagne, tan, or brown shades are a classic hue that represents earth.

A natural color of fertility and wealth, green also represents scenery and protectiveness. Bold red shades show self-assurance and supremacy, while also dozing to custom as a typical color for romance. In Chinese culture, red is a conventional color for good luck and is habitually used at weddings. Though rare, purple diamonds are wonderful to stand for sovereigns, sumptuousness, and lavishness, which is certain to make any bride-to-be feel like a princess.

Diamonds themselves have a rich representation, no issue what color or shape they may be. The power and curiosity of the stones constitutes conquest and transparency, and their link to marriages shows romance. Many couples may prefer to slot in birthstones into their engagement rings, though, for the more individualized meanings that option gemstones can proffer.

Even as palmistry, handwriting analysis, and other symbolic arts are wooly, so too is reading diamond shapes an exercise in pleasurable relatively than truth. Many couples prefer diamond shapes not by mysterious renderings, however by gorgeousness, affordability, accessibility, and personal style partiality. In the end, the diamonds means a significant factor what an individual diamond means to the couple, i.e. their commitment to a life in concert.

Fancy colored diamonds are uncommon and discerned, building them extremely wanted after for engagement rings and other stunning jewelry. By realizing what a diamond color value, couples can choose the best diamonds to go with their finances and traits as well as instill loveliness and uniqueness into their choice.

Shapes of Diamonds

Round Brilliant
Round diamonds are the most well-liked of all the shapes, possibly because their circular proportions display the most "fire" and reflect more light back to the observer than any other shape. Round diamonds require that more rough be removed through cutting and polishing than with other shapes. The combined popularity of round diamonds and the important weight loss during cutting are the two main causal factors to the relatively higher price of these stones.

Princess
The Princess cut is a square cut with sharp ends. It has extremely good fire and a high degree of brilliance. The princess cut utilizes most of the unique shape of the rough diamond and the weight loss from cutting is low. As a consequence, its price is typically more attractive than a comparative round cut with the same weight.

Emerald cuts
Emerald cuts are smooth and stylish. The Emerald cut is rectangular by means of cut corners. It is a step cut - its facets being broad with flat planes like the steps of a stair. Higher quality Emerald cuts are favored because its cut makes inclusions and lower color grades more obvious than with other cuts. The emerald cut diamond can be totally stunning. Because of its long lines, it tends to be less burning than a "round brilliant" cut, but it also tends to have broader, more dramatic flashes of light.

Marquise
The Marquise cut is boat shaped and is a difference of the round brilliant cut diamond. Marquise cuts are often chosen by women who wish to show an independence of style. Its elongated form can make the illusion of longer, narrower fingers.

Radiant
This is a customized or combination cut - a brilliant cut square or rectangle shaped diamond with clipped-off corners similar to the emerald cut. It melds the stylishness of the emerald cut diamond with the brilliance and sparkle of the round diamond.

Pear
The Pear cut is a tear-drop shape and is a disparity of the round brilliant cut diamond. This attractive diamond is also very well-suited to pendants and earrings. Lots of the largest stones ever discovered have been cut and faceted into wonderful pear-shapes.

Heart shape
The ultimate symbol of love, the romantic Heart shape is a difference of the round brilliant cut diamond. This ultimate symbol of romance is basically a pear-shaped diamond with a cleft at the top. The ability of the cutter determines the beauty of the cut. Appear for a stone with a yet shape and a well-defined outline.

Oval
The Oval cut is egg-shaped in shape and is a variation of the round brilliant cut diamond. The oval shaped diamond gives a pleasing delusion of length to the finger and hand, and is well-liked among women with small hands or short fingers. It can also emphasize long, slender fingers.

Asscher
The Asscher cut is an alternative of the emerald cut and provides a uniquely regal and elegant look to its wearer. Its art-deco styling combines old-world charm with contemporary cutting and faceting techniques to create a dazzling example of brilliance.

Diamond jewelry For Special Touch

Diamond Jewelry Adds Special Touch To Your Personality

For centuries diamonds are considered as special and somebody who likes and wear it is seems as a person of style and sophistication. You are sourcing for one of those because your wedding day is close. You have to be impressive and beside the beautiful dress and other outfits wedding jewelry also must be as much beautiful. You know that diamonds are one of best jewelry choices and you know diamonds will add you a special touch to feel like a princess. And you are a princess to your prince! Your choice is beautiful and on wedding day everybody will be amazed with your diamond jewelries.

Whether you decide to have a diamond ring, necklace, bracelets or earrings as a single or couple two of diamond pieces you want mistake because almost every woman prefers diamonds, and how wouldn’t. Diamonds sparkle like stars and take breath to everybody. This kind of jewelry will show that you are a person of style and sophistication. As for women diamonds are also attractive for men and besides diamonds rings are unique because they fit perfectly both men and women. You may consider you as a very happy woman if your wedding or engagement ring is going to be diamond because not everybody can afford diamond jewelry. With a diamond engagement or wedding ring your prince shows all his love to you.

Diamond jewelry is available in many shapes, designs and colours. Sometimes diamonds were coluorless but in joy of many diamonds lovers nowadays it is available in deep blue, rich reds, yellows, greens and many more so your choice is huge. Diamond jewelry is always in fashion, and there no time that will change that fact. That kind of jewelry is absolutely fabulous in anytime, anywhere in any shape, design end colour.

Diamond rings are considered as a great gift and are matter of status and style.

As diamond rings there are also diamonds bracelets which are elegant, too. It fits perfectly to the look whether men or women. If it is going to be your wedding choice that will be very precious lifetime investment and also it will be your lifetime memory.

Besides, there are diamond necklaces which are very beautiful, too. Having it on your neck you’ll look amazing, very stylish and elegant.

So if you are a diamond lover be in touch with diamond trend and provide yourself wedding diamond jewelry in kind you like the most. It will inspire your soul and your feelings letting you feel special on your most important day. No doubt that diamond jewelry is great choice for everybody.

Facts About DIamonds

Diamond facts

* All diamonds are at least 990,000,000 years old. Many are 3,200,000,000 years old (3.2 billion years)

* Diamonds are formed deep within the Earth: between 100 km and 200 km below the surface.

Diamonds form under remarkable conditions!

o The temperatures are about 900 - 1300 C in the part of the Earth's mantle where diamonds form
o The pressure is between 45 - 60 kilobars (kB)
+ 50 kB = 150 km = 90 miles below the surface
+ 60 kB = 200 km = 120 miles below the surface
Diamonds are carried to the surface by volcanic eruptions.

The volcanic magma conduit is known as a kimberlite pipe or diamond pipe. We find diamonds as inclusions in the (rather ordinary looking) volcanic rock known as kimberlite.

NOTE: The kimberlite magmas that carry diamonds to the surface are often much younger than the diamonds they transport (the kimberlite magma simply acts as a conveyer belt!).

* Diamond is made of carbon (C), yet the stable form (polymorph) of carbon at the Earth's surface is graphite.

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* To ensure they are not converted to graphite, diamonds must be transported extremely rapidly to the Earth's surface.

It is probable that kimberlite lavas carrying diamonds erupt at between 10 and 30 km/hour (Eggler, 1989). Within the last few kilometers, the eruption velocity probably increases to several hundred km/hr (supersonic!).

* Diamond is the hardest material

Diamond is the hardest gem on MOHS harness scale and graphite (also made from carbon atoms) is the softest !! Given that both diamond and graphite are made of carbon, this may seem surprising.



The explanation is found in the fact that in diamond the carbon atoms are linked together into a three-dimensional network whereas in graphite, the carbon atoms are linked into sheets with very little to hold the sheets together (thus the sheets slide past each other easily, making a very soft material).

Diamonds occur in two general types of deposits world wide:

* volcanic pipes, also known as kimberlite pipes
* alluvial, or placer, deposits, which were formed by the erosion of diamond pipes over millions of years.

The earliest productive mines were in the Golconda region of India, particularly along the Kristna River. After 1725 this mining district was gradually eclipsed in importance by the diamond deposits of Brazil. Diamonds were first mined there along the Jequitinhonha River, in the Diamantina area of the state of Minas Gerais.

In 1867 a 21-carat stone was discovered on the banks of the Orange River near Hopetown, South Africa. A great diamond rush started, and new deposits were discovered that were more productive than any the world had ever known. Another major diamond resource was developed in the 1950s in the Yakutia region of the Soviet Union. By the 1980s the Yakutia and South African regions and the country of Zaire dominated the world's diamond market. The mineral has also been found in smaller amounts in numerous other places. In the United States the leading producers include Arizona, Nevada, and Montana, although the largest gemstones have been found in an eroded volcanic pipe in Pike County, Ark.
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For many years, microscopic diamonds have occasionally been noted in meteorites; they were attributed to high-speed collisions in space or with the Earth. In 1987, however, following the discovery of many more such diamonds, the theory was developed that they are the product of ancient supernova explosions of giant stars.

In recent years, diamonds have been found in unusual metamorphic rocks that were subjected to very high temperatures and pressures.


HOW RARE ARE DIAMONDS?

· How many grams do you need to mine to get 5 grams of diamonds?

(5g/1000 kg) @ 1000 g/kg = 5 g /1,000,000 g!

BUT only 20 % are gem quality (80 % of these are sold in a 'managed selling environment') and the remainder are used for industrial purposes (this material is known as 'bort' or 'carbonado' (carbonado is finer)).


CHARACTERISTICS OF DIAMOND:

· Hardness = 10

· Crystal System = cubic

· This is what crystals look like before they are faceted: note their natural octahedral shape!

Uncut diamonds are also found in cubic forms

· Diamond has four good cleavages, thus diamonds tend to cleave on impact

· Other diagnostic properties.


Other issues: Treatment, simulants, synthetics

(1) TREATMENTS:

* (a) filling of cracks

Surface cracks and cleavages reaching the surface: often with a glass-like material

Identification: optical microscope examination:

+ =greasy appearance
+ =flash effect
+ =bubbles

Problem: Filling does not always resist polishing and cleaning

* (b) drilling of inclusions
+ Drilling inclusions involves use of a laser.

Solutions can be poured into the resulting "hair-width" diameter hole to bleach colored inclusions.

* (c) irradiation

Irradiation is used to change the color of the diamond. A common color produced by irradiation is green.

Early attempts: beginning of 20th Century: diamonds exposed to radium - the problem was that the diamonds remained radioactive!! However, modern irradiation treatments do not produce radioactive stones.

Irradiation involves the use of devices such as:

o (1) linear accelerators

o (2) gamma ray facilities

o (3) nuclear reactors

Detection of irradiation treatment:

Electron irradiation only changes the surface of the stone. Thus, it produces a concentration of color where the gemstone is thin. For example, electron irradiation produces a color concentration at the culet or keel line of the faceted gem

(2) SIMULANTS

Simulants - simulate the appearance of diamond

The distinction between a synthetic diamond (man-made diamond consisting of carbon atoms arranged in the typical diamond structure) and a diamond simulant (not a carbon compound with the diamond structure) is VERY important!!

In order of increasing R.I., the most common simulants are:

1. YAG = yttrium aluminum garnet
2. GGG = gadolinium gallium garnet
3. CZ = cubic zirconia
4. Strontium titanate
5. diamond.

This rhyme can be used to memorize the common diamond simulants in the above order:

You go crazy staring at diamonds.

Again: Simulants (look alsikes) differ from synthetics (synthesized by humans!) !!!!

Simulants are distinguished from diamonds using measurement or observation of various properties, such as:

o R.I.
o "Read through effect"
o Dispersion
o Hardness
o Specific Gravity
o Reflection pattern
o Shadow patterns

Note: not all diamond simulants have been around for the same length of time!

(3) SYNTHESIS (Details on gem synthesis)

Synthetic diamonds are often yellowish in color (rarely used for gem purposes, more commonly used as diamond grit for industrial purposes. Modern synthesis of thin film diamond has other industrial applications).

A 5 mm diamond (0.5 carat) takes over a week to grow. Synthesis requires:

* high pressure
* high temperature
* a special apparatus

Synthetic diamonds can sometimes be distinguished from natural diamonds by the presence of flux inclusions (Ni, Al or Fe).

Also see Other Blog on Diamond: Diamonds Exotica

Properties Of Diamond

A diamond is a transparent crystal of tetrahedrally bonded carbon atoms (sp3) that crystallizes into the diamond lattice which is a variation of the face centered cubic structure. Diamonds have been adapted for many uses because of the material's exceptional physical characteristics. Most notable are its extreme hardness and thermal conductivity (900–2,320 W·m−1·K−1),as well as wide bandgap and high optical dispersion.Above 1,700 °C (1,973 K / 3,583 °F) in vacuum or oxygen-free atmosphere, diamond converts to graphite; in air, transformation starts at ~700 °C. Naturally occurring diamonds have a density ranging from 3.15–3.53 g/cm3, with very pure diamond typically extremely close to 3.52 g/cm3.

Hardness

Diamond is the hardest natural material known, where hardness is defined as resistance to scratching.Diamond has a hardness of 10 (hardest) on Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Diamond's hardness has been known since antiquity, and is the source of its name.

The hardest natural diamonds in the world are from the Copeton and Bingara fields located in the New England area in New South Wales, Australia. These diamonds are generally small, perfect to semiperfect octahedra, and are used to polish other diamonds. Their hardness is associated with the crystal growth form, which is single-stage crystal growth. Most other diamonds show more evidence of multiple growth stages, which produce inclusions, flaws, and defect planes in the crystal lattice, all of which affect their hardness.It is possible to treat regular diamonds under a combination of high pressure and high temperature to produce diamonds that are harder than the diamonds used in hardness gauges.

The hardness of diamonds contributes to its suitability as a gemstone. Because it can only be scratched by other diamonds, it maintains its polish extremely well. Unlike many other gems, it is well-suited to daily wear because of its resistance to scratching—perhaps contributing to its popularity as the preferred gem in engagement or wedding rings, which are often worn every day.

Industrial use of diamonds has historically been associated with their hardness; this property makes diamond the ideal material for cutting and grinding tools. As the hardest known naturally occurring material, diamond can be used to polish, cut, or wear away any material, including other diamonds. Common industrial adaptations of this ability include diamond-tipped drill bits and saws, and the use of diamond powder as an abrasive. Less expensive industrial-grade diamonds, known as bort, with more flaws and poorer color than gems, are used for such purposes.

Diamond is not suitable for machining ferrous alloys at high speeds as carbon is soluble in iron at the high temperatures created by high-speed machining, leading to greatly increased wear on diamond tools when compared to alternatives.

These substances can scratch diamond:

* Some diamonds are harder than others.
* Nanocrystalline diamond aggregates produced by high-pressure high-temperature treatment of graphite or fullerite (C60).
* Cubic Boron nitride (Borazon)
* A hexagonal form of diamond called lonsdaleite, which is theoretically predicted to be 58% stronger than diamond.

Electrical conductivity

Other specialized applications also exist or are being developed, including use as semiconductors: some blue diamonds are natural semiconductors, in contrast to most other diamonds, which are excellent electrical insulators.The conductivity and blue color originate from the boron impurity. Boron substitutes for carbon atoms in the diamond lattice, donating a hole into the valence band.

Substantial conductivity is commonly observed in nominally undoped diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition. This conductivity is associated with hydrogen-related species adsorbed at the surface, and it can be removed by annealing or other surface treatments.

Toughness

Toughness relates to a material's ability to resist breakage from forceful impact. The toughness of natural diamond has been measured as 2.0 MPa·m1/2, and the critical stress intensity factor is 3.4 MN·m−3/2. Those values are good compared to other gemstones, but poor compared to most engineering materials. As with any material, the macroscopic geometry of a diamond contributes to its resistance to breakage. Diamond has a cleavage plane and is therefore more fragile in some orientations than others. Diamond cutters use this attribute to cleave some stones, prior to faceting.