Diamond Facts....Did You Know?

Diamonds are....

1. ..inorganic. They are minerals (made up of elements/atoms).

2. ..singlularly composed. They are made up of only 1 atom, carbon.

3. ..unique. No two diamonds are exactly identical....each has a unique set of blemishes and/or inclusions.

4. ..also available in other colors. The rarest diamonds are red, purple and green, respectively.

5. ..cut with 57/58 facets. A standard round brilliant diamond that is. 33 facets above the girdle and 24 or 25 facets below the girdle.

6. ..weighed in carats. 1 ounce contains 142 carats.

7. ..very durable. A diamond can scratch/damage any other gemstone because they are the most durable gem. Only a diamond can scratch or damage another diamond, nothing else.

8. ..hard to extract. Only 0.30 carats of rough diamond is produced from 1 metric ton of ore (workers have to process about a ton of rock to recover less than half a carat of rough diamond)....unbelievable!

9. ..available in different colors. The addition of trace elements (very small amounts of another atom). For instance, the addition of Boron gives diamonds a blue color, Nitrogen = yellow.

10. ..a woman's best friend. The majority of diamonds used in jewelry weigh UNDER 1 carat!