Diamonds

Astrologically Diamond is the birthstone of April. It is also the gemstone for the 10th and 60th anniversary. Diamond is supposed to strengthen the planet Venus to increase luxury and enjoyment in your life. If you are a Virgo then according to Vedic astrology Diamond is the right gemstone for you. The glittering color, the four perfect cleavage directions and its endurability has made it the most popular gemstone.

For the interest of Chemistry student Diamond is nothing but a carbon. It is a polymorph of Carbon just like Graphite. Its chemical formula is “C” and only “C”. It’s a native element and belongs to the sub-class Non-metallic. Diamonds are available in wide variety of colors like Blue, Pink, White, Yellow. The diamonds processing industry values the brown diamond much more, which comes in three varieties called Champagne, Cognac and Coffee.

For the Physics students, its hardness is perfect 10 out of 10 in mohs hardness scale. Diamond is the hardest substance, gifted by nature. Just for the sake of interest, Diamond is four times harder than Sapphire or Ruby. Diamonds can scratch any other mineral and the myth, “Diamonds can only cut a diamond”, is true. The Clarity of Diamond is transparent. The specific Gravity of Diamond is 3.5, which is well above the average. Diamond conducts heat the best. For comparison purpose, its five times better than Silver. At this scenario of this very best, the Melting point of Diamond is 3820 Kelvin and the Lattice density is also the highest. Definitely Diamonds is empowered with many excellent properties to become the first choice, but again the myth of its indestructible or eternity has been proved to be a foolish notion.

Diamonds are available all over the world. Mostly it is available in Australia, Arkansas, Africa, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Congo, and Russia etc. A large mine in South Africa has started its operation just five years back.

Diamonds have been used in treatment of mankind for ages. Medical sciences have been able to find its remedial utilities in several accidental and usual disorders due to injuries, fracturing of bones etc. It is supposed to be highly effective in several brain diseases and nervous system disorders. Diamonds even helps to control the hormone sequence of the human body.

How Diamonds Made

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Diamonds form between 75-120 miles below the earth's surface. According to geologists the first delivery of diamonds was somewhere around 2.5 billion years ago and the most recent was 45 million years ago. The carbon that makes diamonds comes from the melting of pre-existing rocks in the Earth's upper mantle. There is an abundance of carbon atoms in the mantle. Temperature changes in the upper mantle forces the carbon atoms to go deeper where it melts and finally becomes new rock, when the temperature reduces. If other conditions like pressure and chemistry is right then the carbon atoms in the melting crystal rock bond to build diamond crystals.

There is no guarantee that these carbon atoms will turn into diamonds. If the temperature rises or the pressure drops then the diamond crystals may melt partially or totally dissolve. Even if they do form, it takes thousand of years for those diamonds to come anywhere near the surface.

It takes millions of years to make a diamond. When you own a diamond, you own something which is a legend in the making. It has not been made in a factory just the other day. A diamond comes from the bosom of the earth. More interestingly not all the diamonds mined are made into jewelry. Only one fourth of the diamonds that are mined are made into jewelry. Every 100 tons of mud produces one carat of a diamond. And this one carat is not one stone! It could be anything from 0.005 ct to 1 ct. because much of the original stone is cut away in the process of cutting, shaping and polishing the diamond.

Diamonds come in different rough shapes. The next time you look at your diamond, think about the amount of time, energy and resources have gone into making that one.