20 Amazing Diamond Facts
Diamonds are amongst the most exquisite of nature's creations, with a sparkle that most people find compelling. So it is no wonder that
people are intrigued by them, and want to learn more diamond facts about how they are made, where they comes from,
and all about diamonds.
Here are Twenty Diamond Facts for you to enjoy:
1. Most people know that diamond is the hardest natural substance, but most don't know that it also has the highest thermal conductivity of
any material found in bulk. In fact, the only material with a greater thermal conductivity is Graphene, which cost in the order
of $1,000 as of 2008 for a piece the size of a human hair!
2. Diamonds in nature take anywhere from 1 billion to 3.3 billion years to form.
3. The word 'Diamond' comes from the Greek word 'adamas' which means 'unbreakable'.
4. A large, flawless diamond of over 99 carats is called 'a paragon'.
5. The largest flawless diamond is called 'The Paragon' which weighs in at a whopping 137.82 carats, and is a D-Class Flawless
Diamond which was found in Brazil.
6. A diamond can only be scratched by another diamond, so as long as you don't rub your rings together it should always keep its sparkle.
7. Some blue diamonds are known to be terrific semi-conductors.
8. The most common impurity found in gem quality diamonds is Nitrogen.
9. Every year around 26,000 KG (130,000,000) carats of diamonds are mined.
10. These have a value of around $9 Billion.
11. In addition to the 26,000 KG that are mined each year there are around another 100,000 KG of
small, synthetic diamonds produced every year, mainly for
industrial purposes.
12. There have been diamonds found in the United States in Montana, Arkansas and Colorado.
13. Since the 1870's when diamonds were first found in South Africa, there have been over 900,000 KG of diamonds
extracted globally (4,500,000,000 carats).
14. Russia is now the world's biggest diamond producer, with approximately 20% of the world's production capacity.
15. The De Beers Company control around 40% of international diamond production, but their influence has actually waned from their
heyday when they controlled over 80%.
16. Only 0.01% of natural diamonds are fancy colored i.e. a color other than white.
17 . To grow a synthetic diamond you need to bathe it in a graphite solution, heat at roughly 1500 centigrade and apply a pressure equivalent
to 58,000 atmospheres.
It will then take around three days to grow a 2.8 carat stone, which when cut will end up as a 1.5 carat fancy diamond.
18. The largest diamond ever found was the Cullinan Diamond which weighed in at a whopping 3,106.75 carats when it was uncut,
and in its raw form was three times larger than the next largest diamond ever found, called the Excelsior.
19. There is a star in the Centaurus constellation which is thought to be 4,000 km across and which it is thought is made of
compressed carbon, in other words, Diamond. If you graded this in terms of carats, then it would be Ten Billion, Trillion, Trillion, Carats.
The only 'problem' is that it lies fifty light years away!
The technical name given to this diamond star by astronomers is BPM 37093.
20. The rarest colored diamonds are natural pink, green and vivid blue mined diamonds.
Because of the rarity of colored diamonds and the high demand for them, most colored gemstone quality diamonds now sold were made synthetically.
Diamonds are amazing, and hopefully these twenty diamond facts have wetted your appetite to learn more about this amazing material.
Go to Crystal Jewellery Xy Page from Diamond Facts
Check out more diamond facts by reading all about diamonds.
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