What is a diamond?

The name “diamond” derives from the Greek words “diaphainein” (translucent) and “adamantos” (invincible).

Diamond is carbon in its most concentrated form. But diamond is very different from other carbon minerals in its hardness and dispersion of light. We all have carbon at home, but it’s soft and not translucent - it’s graphite in pencils.

The difference between graphite and diamond is its crystal structure. Rough diamonds build octahedrons and dodecahedrons, but also cubes and more complex forms.

Diamonds are created under great pressure and heat and therefore have these extraordinary characteristics we love and admire about diamonds.

Diamonds are extremly hard, scoring 10 on the relative Mohs scale of mineral hardness, i.e. diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material on earth. No other material can scratch diamond but diamond and diamond dust itself. Although diamond is the hardest material it’s not tough. It can’t resist breakage from forceful impact.

Diamonds occur in many colors or tranparent hues: colorless, yellow, brown, red, pink, green, blue, black. Diamonds with a detectable color are also called colored diamonds. If a color is strong, the diamond is also known as a fancy colored diamond. The color of diamonds comes from inclusions of other chemical elements or structural imperfections. The best color on the diamond color scale is D, the least desirable color is Z, which is yellow.

Because many diamonds are not transparent or have to many inclusions, 75% of the worlds’ diamond production is unsuitable for use as gems and is therefore used in industry.

Most natural diamonds originate from Africa, but also from India, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Australia.

The weight of a diamond is measured in carat, where one carat equals 0,2 Grams.

Read more about the 4 C’s of a diamond.