Diamonds

No. Diamond is the hardest mineral and it is not malleable or plastic.

The rarest natural diamond colours are probably red, green and blue.

If you can find a large stone in one of those colours graded as flawless or very slightly included with a cut that shows off the stone's colour and high clarity, you will probably pay the most per carat for this stone.

A raw diamond, also known as a rough diamond, is an uncut and unpolished natural diamond that has been mined from the earth. It has not undergone any shaping or faceting to enhance its appearance, and its value is based on its carat weight, color, clarity, and quality of the rough crystal. Raw diamonds are typically processed and cut by a skilled gem cutter to reveal their brilliance and fire before being set into jewelry.

A diamond typically forms deep within the earth and starts out as colorless. The presence of impurities or structural defects can introduce color variations in diamonds, resulting in a range of colors such as white, yellow, brown, blue, pink, and more.

Chemists are needed to find ways to create industrial diamonds because natural diamonds are not always available in the quantity or quality needed for industrial applications. By developing methods to synthesize diamonds, chemists can provide a reliable and cost-effective source of these materials for various industries such as cutting tools, electronics, and abrasives. Industrial diamonds have properties that make them valuable for these applications, such as their hardness and thermal conductivity, which can be tailored through chemical processes.

From the Web site, below, the process, which occurs in the lab:

"The HPHT process...takes the diamond back to its formative environment and causes the platelets of nitrogen to be dispersed within the crystal lattice. This dispersion of nitrogen platelets into much smaller nitrogen molecules causes the off-color diamonds to take on a color of fancy yellow to yellow-green. And this allows the otherwise not-sellable-poor-color diamond to become a sellable fancy color diamond."

HPHT-treated diamonds can be detected by a certified gemologist. A buyer should pay significantly less for a treated stone than for an un-treated stone.

Read more, below.

Diamond are desirable for its look on how it shines in the light and for how few and little their are in the world. People like to have the items like designer clothing, 14 carrot jewelry, and special made items. Diamonds are in that category. BUT diamonds aren't of a need like coal or gasoline. Just to look pretty and rich at the same time AND feel on top of the world with MONEY:)

"Squishy" is not the preferred term, but yes, compared to other metals, it is kind of squishy (malleable, if you want to be technical).

Note that we're not talking Play-Doh here. It's only "squishy" in a relative sense. It is, after all, still metal.

The paper used to package loose diamonds is used primarily to avoid loss of the stone -- as precious as it is, it is still rather small, relatively -- and to afford the holder a surface upon which to write: to identify the stone by its cut, clarity, colour and carat weight.

A loose stone is more susceptible to an errant blow that could fracture it along its natural cleveage than is one which has been mounted in metal.

Diamonds have a higher refractive index than glass, which means they reflect and refract light differently. As a result, diamonds tend to sparkle more than glass and have a higher level of brilliance and fire due to their superior light performance.

I think you mean "phosphorescence" not phosphorescent.

Actually a diamond doesn't react WITH phosphorescence. BUT it can create it's own. After exposing it to UV light (the sun) and putting in a dark room, it can glow itself.

Diamonds are made up of carbon atoms arranged in a crystal lattice structure. Carbon atoms bond together in a tetrahedral structure, giving diamonds their unique hardness and clarity.

Testing a raw diamond at home can be challenging without the proper equipment. One common method is using a diamond tester, which measures a diamond's thermal conductivity to determine if it's real. Alternatively, you can check for imperfections or inclusions under a jeweler's loupe, though this method is less reliable. Consulting a professional jeweler is the most recommended way to accurately test a raw diamond.

Probably nothing, but this is an expensive experiment to conduct.

Diamond has the highest melting point of any mineral (3820 degrees Kelvin), which converts to 3,546.85 degrees Celsius.

(The Centigrade measurement has essentially be abandoned. According to Sizes.com: "The problem was that the ice point, the 'temperature of melting ice...at standard atmospheric pressure', which was used to define zero degrees on the centigrade scale, cannot be measured with enough precision.")

A diamond is more valuable than graphite because of its rarity, hardness, and brilliance. Diamonds are formed deep within the Earth's mantle under extreme pressure and temperature, making them relatively scarce. Additionally, their exceptional durability and unique optical properties make them highly prized in the jewelry industry.

No. Gold (as in 24K pure gold) is an element. However, 14K gold is a mixture of gold, copper, nickel and tin. 14K means it is 14/24ths gold, and 10/24ths another metal. BTW, pure 24K gold is almost never used for jewelry- it is too soft, and will bend. Most good gold jewelry is 14K.

You can best protect a diamond by keeping it in a soft bag in a safe deposit box in a bank.

At home, keep your diamond jewelry that you're not wearing in a soft bag, separate from other jewelry, preferably in a safe.

When you wear your diamond ring, take care not to lose it. Don't take it off when you wash your hands or apply lotion, just don't apply the lotion to the diamond jewelry.

Keep your diamond in a safe place when you work with your hands, so that you don't damage the diamond setting, which can loosen the stone. And as a professional football player just learned, don't wear your diamond earrings to football practice.

A diamond is meant to be seen and admired; it is not a tool. Take your diamond jewelry to a jeweler regularly to verify that the setting is secure.

Finally, photograph your diamonds and keep the photograph(s) and your gemologist's certificate(s) for the stone(s) with your insurance policy, that insures your diamonds in a safe place.

On the scale of hardness, the Mohs scale, diamond is the hardest substance and is rated at 10, the highest rating for hardness. Window glass is rated at 5.5, softer than diamond.

Read more about the Mohs Scale, below.

Yes.

If the stone has any imperfection, flaw or inclusion, that represents a weak bond in the structure of the diamond stone. If the setting doesn't protect the stone, and if the diamond is hit 'just right' with the exact amount of force and at the 'exact' angle necessary, the diamond can chip.

Chipping a diamond is unusual, however, and doesn't occur very often. But it's one of the reasons for buying insurance on a diamond.

The hardest diamonds are colorless. In the diamond industry, the highest quality diamonds are those that are graded as "D" color, which is completely colorless. These diamonds are highly valued for their rarity and brilliance.

No, diamonds do not have a smell. They are made of pure carbon arranged in a crystal structure, which does not emit any odor.

One can assume that clarity I2 is what you mean, instead of 12 -- 'eye two' not 'one two'.

A diamond with clarity I2 means that there are multiple inclusions or flaws that are visible to the naked -- unmagnified -- eye. The I stands for Included and the number represents the degree to which is it included. I1 being the least to I3 being the most.

Diamonds are hydrophobic because of their non-polar nature, which means they do not have a charge and cannot interact with water molecules. The strong covalent bonds between carbon atoms in diamonds make them highly stable and non-reactive with water. This causes water to bead up and slide off the surface of diamonds, giving them the appearance of repelling water.

A 1 carat diamond weighs approximately 200 milligrams.