DIAMONDS

CUT DIAMONDS

This is all about diamonds. The name diamond came from ancient Greek. Diamonds were mined in India about 3000 maybe even 6000 years ago. They were also found in rivers Penner, Krushna and Godavi.

First treasured as a religious gemstone in India. It also was discover that they were used in tools in earliest human history.

1813 Humphrey Davy used a lens to concentrate the ray of the sun on a diamond in an atmosphere of oxygen. It showed that the only product of the combustion was carbon dioxide. It proved that diamonds are composed of carbon. He experimented and found that if diamonds are in an atmosphere without oxygen the diamond turns into graphite.

In the 19th century the supply increased and the cutting and polishing improved. The demand grew unbelievable after an advertising campaign.

In the 19th century and in the 20th century a diamond as a gemstone in a setting of gold or platinum was the dream of every woman. A grading was developed in the 20th century to determine the value of the stone and it is still in use today. The grading are carat, cut, colour and clarity.

Facts about Diamonds

Facts about diamond are the hardest natural material known. Therefore, it was also used in industrial production. Diamond cutters are used to cut some stones. The hardness of the stone is the main reason to be as popular as a gemstone. Once polished it maintains well and can only be scratch by another diamond. This is the reason that diamonds are used in engagement rings and wedding rings so that they can be worn everyday without any damage.

Blue Diamonds

Blue diamonds are used as semiconductors.

Rough Diamonds

The mined rough diamond is turned into gems through a multiple process. Diamonds are extremely hard but also brittle. Diamond cutting is traditional and required skill, scientific knowledge, tools and experience. The weight loss in the cutting process can be up to 50%. Several shapes are considered but the decision, at the end, has to be not only scientific but also practical. It has to achieve a facetted jewel with the special angles between the facetts which optimise the lustre, meaning dispersion of white light. The most consuming time is the preliminary analysis of the rough diamond. To get the right decision for the shape to cut can literally last as much as years especially in a case of a unique diamond.

Most diamonds are formed at high-pressure, high-temperature condition at the depth of 140 to 190 km (87-120 m) in the Earth mantle. The growths occur over a period of 1 billion - 3.3 billions years. It is roughly 25% - 75 % of the age of the Earth. They came closed to the surface through the volcanic eruption which cools into ingenious rocks called kimberlites and lamproites.

The hardest natural diamond is original from the Copeton and Bingara field in New England, Australia. They are small and perfection to semi-perfect octahedral and used to polish other diamonds. Their hardness derives from a single stage crystal growth. Other diamonds had a multi growth stage and with that developed flaws, defect planes in the lattice, which affect the hardness.

Another interesting point is that not all diamonds originated from Earth. A carbonados diamond from South America and Africa may have been deposited from an asteroid impact and was not formed from Earth 3 billion years ago.