50 facts about diamonds for kids

Diamond is together with graphite an allotropic modification of carbon.

Diamond is the hardest mineral in nature.

The hardest natural diamonds have been discovered in Australia.

Diamond has a melting point of 3820 Kelvin.

Diamond jewelry is the most expensive jewelry of them all.  In 2009, a diamond weighing 7.03 carats was sold for staggering $9.49 million. This was so far the most expensive diamond in the history.

Diamonds were first discovered in India.

Diamonds can only be scratched by other diamonds.

Around 50% of all natural diamonds originate from Africa.

First synthetic diamonds were produced more than 50 years ago, back in 1955.

Around 40% of diamonds used in industry are artificial diamonds created in lab.

The value of diamond is dependent upon 4C's: cut, color, clarity and carat.

Diamond clarity refers to diamond's visual appearance.

Less inclusions and flaws within diamond means better clarity and also better dispersion of light.

Carat refers to diamond's weight.

Some natural colored diamonds are very rare such as red, green, pink and green diamonds.

The rarest natural colored diamonds are red diamonds, followed by green diamonds.

Diamonds require extremely high temperatures and extremely high pressure to be created.

Not all diamonds found on our planet originate from our planet as some have come to our planet with meteorites.

Under the right conditions a simple pencil could be turned into a diamond.

Diamonds have the highest optical density of all materials.

Rough diamonds need to be polished prior to becoming part of the diamond jewelry.

The standard diamond cut is brilliant diamond cut, characterized with 57 facets.

Many diamonds have been treated in laboratory in order to remove certain flaws and other inclusions.

Diamond hardness is 140 times the hardness of sapphire or ruby.

The purest diamonds are also the hardest diamonds. The hardest diamonds found on our planet are very small and are characterized by single-stage crystal growth.

On the Mohs scale of mineral hardness diamond has the ultimate value of 10.

The most famous natural blue diamond is Blue Hope Diamond.

The natural colored red diamond Moussaieff Red was the largest red diamond graded by GIA, weighing 5.11 carats.

The most famous natural green diamond is Dresden Green.

Australian Argyle Diamond Mine produces the largest share of pink and red diamonds in the world.

The most famous pink diamond in the world is Darya-I-Nur.

The most famous natural yellow diamond is "Kimberley Octahedron".

The world's oldest diamonds are more than 4 billion years old and have been found in Western Australia.

Diamonds come to surface with the help of volcanic pipes that carry diamonds together with magma.

Diamond hardness is primarily the result of tightly packed carbon atoms.

The reason why some diamonds are colored is because of corruption from other elements than carbon or deformation of the carbon atoms.

Diamond rings are the most popular form of diamond jewelry.

Diamond engagement ring tradition started in 1477 when Archduke Maximilian of Austria presented a gold ring set with a diamond to his future wife Mary of Burgundy.

Every year around 7 billion dollars is spent on diamond rings in United States.

It has been accepted as an unofficial rule that future groom should spend a three month salary on diamond engagement ring.

The best diamond simulant is moissanite. Many jewelers won't be able to tell the difference between diamond and moissainite.

The most common diamond simulant is cubic zirconia.

When buying expensive diamond jewelry you should always ask for diamond certificate.

Diamonds respond remarkably well when faced with extreme conditions. 

Every fifth diamond ends up as part of some diamond jewelry which means that 80% of all mined diamonds are used for different industrial applications.

The world's largest diamond consumer is United States.

The world's fastest growing diamond market is China.

One diamond carat is defined as 200 milligrams.

Diamonds with the appraisals and certificates achieve higher prices because buyers feel safe when buying these diamonds.

The most frequently used test to identify real diamonds from fake ones is done by using electronic thermal probes.