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.

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Why are diamonds rare?

Diamonds of good and excellent quality are very hard to find, in fact, for every million diamonds that are mined, only one will be found that is a quality one carat gem (only 1 in 5 million are 2-carat, and 1 in 15 million are 3-carat). The large diamonds of high quality are extremely rare and this is the main reason why these stones have such an astronomical price tag.

In order to better understand the rarity of diamonds we first need to look at the process of their birth, namely millions of years under intense pressure and extremely high temperatures for a genuine diamond to form.

These conditions can be simulated in laboratories but these lab created diamonds despite having the same if not even better properties compared to natural diamonds do not possess the uniqueness and value of diamonds created in nature.

Some colored diamonds like for instance red, pink, and blue diamonds are extremely rare, in fact there are so rare that only a small number of jewelers actually had the chance to see these precious stones.

In order to compensate for the rarity of these colored diamond scientists invented synthetic diamonds. Synthetic diamonds are produced in lab, have the exact same qualities like natural diamonds so we can no longer say that diamonds in general are as rare as they used to be. But natural colored diamonds still remain extremely rare and therefore extremely expensive.

Red diamonds are considered to be rarest of them all and there are less than 20 red diamonds in existence today. The second rarest colored diamonds are green diamonds followed by purple, pink, orange and blue diamonds.

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Diamond hardness - Quick facts

It is really no wonder that diamond got its name from the Greek word „adamas“ meaning indestructible. Diamond is the hardest substance that can be found in nature, its hardness is for instance 140 times the hardness of sapphire or ruby. In fact, diamond is the hardest known natural material on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness where it has the ultimate value of 10.

Diamond's remarkable hardness is one of the main reasons for its supreme physical and chemical properties though this does not mean that diamond is completely indestructible as it still needs to be preserved from accidents during its installation into certain jewelry setting.

The purer the diamonds are the harder they are which means that the purest diamonds are the hardest diamonds. The crystalline perfection is also one of the main factors that determine the hardness of diamond; diamonds that have the direction along the longest diagonal of the cubic diamond lattice are the hardest diamonds.

The hardest diamonds have been found in New South Wales, Australia. These diamonds are very small and are mostly used to polish other diamonds.

The hardest diamonds are often characterized with the single-stage crystal growth. The single-stage crystal growth means there are less inclusions and flaws which automatically means better hardness.

Today's science has made it possible to improve hardness of the diamonds in the lab by several different high pressure and high temperature methods.

The hardness of the diamond is not the same as diamond's toughness because toughness strictly refers to material's ability to resist breakage from forceful impact.

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The greatest diamonds in the world

The greatness of certain diamond is primarily measured by its size and fame. Some diamonds, especially big diamonds, are more famous than other smaller diamonds. If I would have to draw up a list of the greatest diamonds in the world this would certainly include Star of The Africa, Koh-I-Noor, Orloff, Great Mogul, The Centenary, The Blue Hope and the Dresden Green.

Star of the Africa diamond is sometimes also referred to as Cullinan 1. This diamond still holds the record as the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found, at 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g). There are several different anecdotes connected with this diamond, among which is also the one of famous diamond cutter Asscher who had a doctor and nurse standing by and when he finally cut the diamond and it broke perfectly in two, he fainted dead away. This diamond was discovered in the mines of South Africa.

Koh-I-Noor is truly a beautiful diamond, after all its name translated from Persian means "Mountain of Light". This large diamond comes from India and was discovered in the early ancient years. The anecdotes connected to this diamond include the theory that Koh-I-Noor diamond was originally part of the Great Mogul and also that it also carries a curse and only when in the possession of a woman will the curse not work.

Orloff (Orlov) diamond has also its origin in India though this large diamond today resides in Russia. At one time in history this diamond was given to the famous Russian Queen Catherine II by her lover Grigori Orloff and that's how this diamond got its name. The Orloff diamond is special because it retains its original Indian rose-style cut. It weighs around 190 carats.

The Great Mogul diamond as the name suggest is indeed a great diamond. This large diamond also has its origin in India. In its original state this diamond weighed astonishing 787 carats and was given as a gift to Shah Jehan, builder of the famous Taj Mahal.

The Centenary diamond still doesn't have very rich history because it has been discovered in 1986 in South Africa's Premier Mine. This diamond is internally and externally flawless and weighs 273.85 carats and has a remarkable 247 facets. The current owner of this great diamond is unknown as in 2008 this gem has been sold to an unknown buyer.

The Blue Hope. Every list of the greatest and the most famous diamonds includes The Blue Hope diamond. This is probably because this diamond has the reputation of being the most cursed among world's famous diamonds. This diamond is not that large as some of its famous brothers by weighing 45.52 carats but its fame and legends connected to it certainly make it enormously big. After all only Mona Lisa gets more visits than this mystery diamond. Its current residence is Smithsonian, Washington.

Dresden Green is certainly the good way to finish the story about world's greatest diamonds. Though this diamond has a weight of "only" 41 carats it is nonetheless one of the most important diamond discoveries in the world. Its special character comes from its unique green color and this diamond is being used to compare natural versus lab-produced green diamonds.

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Cool diamond facts

The name diamond comes from the Greek word "adamas" meaning invincible which probably refers to their supreme physical qualities.

Mary of the Burgundy was the first known recipient of a diamond engagement ring when she married with Maximilian I.

In traditional Hinduism diamond with some kind of flaw or flat or uncut should be avoided because it carries bad luck.

Arabic diamonds are said to attract iron even better than a magnet.

In ancient Arabic world diamond was considered to give victory to his bearer who carries it on his left arm regardless of enemies.

In ancient and middle age time it was believed that diamond's hardiness can only be broken if diamonds is smeared with fresh goat's blood.

Greek historian Pliny wrote that diamond baffles poison, keep of insanity and dispels vain fears.

Diamond is a birthstone for people born in the month of April.

Diamond jubilee means 60 or 75-year anniversary.

There are white dwarf stars in space that have a core made of diamonds. This evidence was found in 2004 in the sky above the Australia when white dwarf star known as BPM 37093 was discovered and this is the biggest diamond known in universe that weighs 2.27 thousand trillion trillion tons which is 10 billion trillion trillion carats, or a 1 followed by 34 zeros. This great discovery confirmed theory that was developed in 60s that cool white dwarf stars should have diamond core.

Diamonds are typically billions years old. The oldest diamonds on our planet were found in Australia.

Graphite in the pencil is made of same stuff as diamonds.

Termites may suggest the location where diamonds can be found.

Every year 3, 5 millions tons of rocks get blasted with purpose of finding diamonds.

Diamonds in fact don’t last forever, but “only” several million years before they disintegrate.

Diamond resists attack by acids or bases.

Diamond has very large melting point of 3820 K (3547 °C / 6420 °F) and a boiling point of 5100 K (4827 °C / 8720 °F)

Antwerp, Belgium is the center of diamond industry.

First synthetic diamonds were produced in 1955 by General Electric.

Diamonds were first discovered in India and then in Brazil.

Almost 50 % of all diamonds originate from Africa (mostly central and southern).

Diamond is regarded as the hardest material on Earth and its hardness is set to 10 which is the hardest on Mohs scale of mineral hardness. However diamond is not the hardest material in general because aggregated diamond nanorods that were first synthesized in 2005 are even harder than the natural diamonds. The hardest natural diamonds in the world come from Australia.

Diamond can only be scratched by other diamonds.

Only colorless (white) diamonds are transparent.

The earliest written text referring to diamonds is Buddhist’s text, the "Anguttara Nikaya" about 296 AD.

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World's oldest diamonds – Quick facts

Diamonds are formed deep within the Earth and it takes a lot of time (usually few billion years) for diamonds to be formed. The formation of diamonds does not only require extremely large period of time it also requires extremely high temperatures and extremely high pressure. Synthetic diamonds also need these conditions just like natural diamonds do, the only differences between these two is the place of their creation (lab compared to deep within the Earth), and of course the factor of time.

Some diamonds are extremely old, even older than 3 billion years. Currently the world's oldest diamonds are 4 billion years old diamonds found trapped inside zircon crystals from the Jack Hills region, few hundreds kilometers north of the Western Australian capital Perth, so diamonds are basically almost as old as our planet is.

These world's oldest diamonds were discovered by Australian and German scientists within the zircon grains. This discovery supports the theory that Earth in the Hadean era (about 4.4 billion years ago) was not a "warm as hell" zone but was significantly cooler which enabled creation of these diamonds. These diamonds are about 1 billion years older than the oldest known diamonds found in terrestrial rock. And so the Australian diamonds currently hold the "world's oldest diamonds" title. At least for time being.

Not all diamonds on our planet were formed under these conditions. Some of them were a result of meteorite strike. These diamonds are usually extremely small, and are called nanodiamonds or microdiamonds.

How do diamonds come up to the surface? The answer is volcanoes, or to be more precise volcanic pipes that carry diamonds together with magma depositing them near to surface. Without this process diamonds couldn't be mined but of course not all volcanoes carry diamonds with them to the surface so natural diamonds are therefore quite rare, and of course quite expensive.

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The origin, properties and price of a diamond

The two most important reasons why diamonds are so much sought after jewelry are diamond's shine and diamond's resistance. Diamond not only shines the most it is also extremely resistant to damage, in fact diamonds can be only scratched with other diamonds. When you think about it, it is really no wonder that diamonds have become the preferred selection when it comes to engagement rings. Of course, marketing also played a very important role in creating tradition that has made diamond engagement rings so popular across the globe.

Diamonds are among very rare minerals (such as gold and and copper) that consist of only one element, they are in fact pure carbon. Their birth place is somewhere between 95 to 150 kilometers below the surface, and they were created under conditions characterized by enormously high temperatures and extremely high pressure. Some diamonds found on our planet do not originate from Earth as they have come to our planet with meteorites. These diamonds are usually called extraterrestrial diamonds (sometimes also referred to as nanodiamonds).

Many people are finding it hard to believe that graphite and diamonds are members of the same family, namely pure carbon family. On one hand graphite (that can be found in pencils) is one of the softest materials while diamond is the hardest substance that can be found on our planet. This is because the molecules of carbon found in diamond are connected into one very compact structure while in graphite carbon molecules are connected into the layers that can easily slide one to another.

Technically speaking we could turn our pencil into a diamond but by doing so we would have to apply enormous pressure of 450.000 kg by square inch, and the temperature of around 1650 C.

Diamonds are also excellent heat conductors, have the highest optical density of all materials, and also have the highest index of light refraction.

Diamonds in rough state need polishing and cutting in order to become a part of the diamond jewelry. Diamond polishing was primarily connected to cities such as Antwerpen, Johanesburg, and Tel-Aviv, while today most of the diamonds are being polished in India because of the cheap labor force. Some estimates say that India today has close to 850.000 diamond polishers.

The brilliant cut is usually referred to as the standard diamond cut. The standard brilliant cut has 57 facets. Basically, the more facets means more sparkle. The cutting is the key factor that determines the final beauty, shine and sparkling of the diamond.

The colorless and fancy colored diamonds are the most expensive diamonds. Some colored diamonds such as red, pink and green diamonds are extremely rare and therefore extremely expensive.

Internally flawless diamonds (diamonds without imperfections and inclusions) are extremely rare. Most diamonds have at least some inclusions and other imperfections that decrease the value of a diamond, and reduce its sparkle. Also, many diamonds are being artificially treated with different methods (such as lasers) to remove this imperfections.

Usually, the bigger the diamond the more expensive it is. For instance many smaller diamonds usually cost significantly less compared to just one diamond of the same weight. The bigger and more expensive diamonds almost always have diamond certificate with it, which guarantees diamond's characteristics and quality.

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