Diamonds - Shining Stars On Earth
Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Marilyn Monroe expressed
exactly what many women fear to admit: - you are what you wear.
If you have a diamond on, you are considered to be a beautiful
and classy woman, as you without a doubt are. The harder and
more resistant the diamond, the tougher and more resilient you
are. Each diamond has its personality; each one has its soul. As
each woman is, each gem is. Diamonds are a girl's best friend
because we look up to them. They are the way we wish we could
be, they are our models.
The diamond is the most famous allotrope of carbon. It is also
one of the hardest substances on Earth, therefore highly valued
as jewelry and as an industrial tool. The other substance that
comes from carbon is graphite. It's strange to believe that
graphite and diamonds are just different molecular formats of
the same element. This can be a natural allegory for social
differences.
Most true diamonds come from Africa, although they can be found
at practically any volcanic area in the world. Synthetic
diamonds are made in a laboratory, but they almost never can
compare to natural ones. They are mostly used for industry;
rarely do they have quality good enough for jewelry making.
The major company that deals with diamonds is DeBeers. Many
problems and suspicions have gone around this company because of
its wideness and seemingly monopolistic characteristics.
The Value of a Diamond
Diamonds show the deepest element on Earth. The name diamond
comes from the Greek adamas ('impossible to tame'). Diamonds
have been treasured as precious ever since they began being used
as religious icons in India 2500 years ago. Their use as a tool
is also from way back.
Diamonds are usually evaluated by the four "c"s: carat, clarity,
color, and cut. Since evaluating diamonds began to follow these
rules, they became the most popular jewel.
Diamonds be of different carats. A carat is a mass unit for the
diamond. One carat is exactly 200 milligrams. The value of a
diamond rises exponentially according to the weight of the
diamond, because the larger the diamond, the more rare it is.
Internal defects in diamonds are called inclusions. Clarity will
tell us how pure a diamond is. Inclusions can be foreign
material in a diamond, or it can also be a mal-formation of the
crystal structure. This results in white spots or even cracks in
the stone. Only 20 percent of all natural diamonds are
considered clear enough for gemstone usage, the other 80 percent
goes to industry. Diamonds are graded on clarity on a scale from
Flawless to Imperfect.
A 100 percent carbon diamond, that is completely pure, is clear
in color. Yet, no natural diamond is completely perfect. The
yellow hues are less valuable, while blue and red are the most
valued in the market. Transparent diamonds are also very much
valued, but not as much as the blue and red ones.
Diamonds never come cut and clean from the rough. They are
usually odd shaped and it is usually difficult to detect a
diamond without it having been cut. Diamond cutting is a very
complex art because it requires great molecular knowledge of the
crystal structure and great mathematical knowledge. Cutting can
be measured by the way the light refracts in the diamond.
These four "c"s are fundamental in evaluating a true diamond. No
woman is dignified if she does not once in her life hold a true
diamond. They are perfect.