The love of diamonds in our jewelry is a modern phenomenon. It has
really only been since the 1930s that diamonds have been so desired as
a jewelry stone. And with diamonds came synthetic diamonds. Synthetic
daimonds will always be worth considering as an alternative to diamonds
whilst real diamonds are so expensive, and synthetic diamonds are so
good.
Diamonds have a number of natural qualities. They are, for example, the
hardest of any natural product. Synthetic daimonds needed to have
similar qualities to compete with the natural product. In jewelry a
diamond has beautiful sparkle,and is very hard. Any synthetic diamond
that is to compete with the real thing has to exhibit similar
qualities. And synthetic diamonds do this admirably.
The first synthetic diamonds were produced in the 1950s in Sweden and
then not so long after the synthesis of diamonds was reported a second
time by researchers at GE. Even De Beers, the worlds larget producer of
natural diamonds experimented with synthesising diamonds and succeeded.
Modern synthetic diamonds range hugely in their quality. Some come very
close to real diamonds in their physical properties, and some do not.
There are many synthetic diamonds which do not exhibit anywhere near the qualities of diamonds, and some which come very close.
And there are some sythetic diamonds which can readily be distinguished from diamonds by experts, and some which cannot.
Even glass has been used as an alternative to diamonds and to many
yields a reasonable result in costume jewelry. But it can be easily
distinguished from real diamonds by anyone who knows what they are
doing. Cubic Zirconia is a synthetic diamond which does not stand up
for long to inspection by experts.
There are, however, many excellent synthetic diamonds which are so
close to real diamonds in their physical properties that they are very
difficult to distinguish from real diamonds indeed.
Prime amongst them is Moissanite. One of the newer of the synthetic
diamonds, moissanite, is in fact a naturally occurring product, and it
is therefore arguable whether it is a synthetic diamond or just a
jewelry stone which is very close to diamond in it's qualities. It was
first discovered in tiny amounts in a meteor that landed in Arizona in
1893. It was discovered by Dr Henry Moissan, after whom it was named.
It has only been recently produced synthetically, because it does not
occur in sufficient quantities naturally to be commercially viable, so
it was necessary to devise a way to synthesise if it was to be
available in jewelry.
Moissanite is extremely close to diamond in it's natural qualities.
Whereas diamond is the hardest of all the jewels, rating at 10 on the
hardness scale, moissanite is not far behind at 9.25, and harder than
other natural jewelry stones such as ruby (9) and sapphire (9) or
emerald (7.5)
There are other comparitive scales used to rate jewelry stones. In
brilliance, which is a measure of it's refractive index, diamond is
2.42. Moissanite at 2.65 is superior to diamonds, and far outperforms
ruby and sapphire at 1.77 and emerald at 1.58
In fire diamond rates at .044, moissanite at .104 ruby at .018 sapphire
at .018 and emerald at .014. So again moissanite outperforms diamonds
on this scale. Similarly on the scale used to assess luster moissanite
outperforms diamonds and the other well known jewelry stones.
So it can be seen that there are very viable modern synthetic diamonds
on the market. Many cannot be told apart from diamonds except by the
most experienced jewellers, and moissanite cannot be told apart from
diamonds by most jewellers without the use of specialised equipment.
And of course synthetic diamonds are available at a considerable cost
savings to the real thing. That is why they are synthesised.
Any diamond merchant will tell you that synthetic diamonds are just
junk. He is trying to protect his product. The reality is that for
many, synthetic diamonds are a very viable alternative to real diamonds
and it is highly unlikely that anyone could tell the difference between
the two in any type of jewelry. And as the synthetic diamonds are much
cheaper than the real thing they are extremely attractive to the
jewelry buyer.
And the best amongst all the different types of synthetic diamonds? Moissanite.
Find out more about Moissanite as
well as Moissanite
Earrings and other types of Moissanite rings at Peter's
website, The Magic of Moissanite.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
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