Diamonds~ What You Should Know
As we all know, diamonds are ‘The Stones’ with the most arresting sparkle in its tiniest size.
With the highest quality of adamantine luster, cut in the right proportions, a ‘round cut’ with all 58 facets, certainly sparkles with brilliance.
The tiny studs that you see on my earlobes are made with round brilliant petals. Wearing these give me the opportunity to wear big cocktail rings. Long dangly earrings with huge rings are a little too fussy for me. Also I am truly grateful to these studs during my daughter’s baby years!!! A worry free season of anything being yanked off my ears! They worked well for the day as well as the night.
Now the thing with Diamonds is, that it is generally thought of as pretty “indestructible”, right? Well… yes it is when comparing to other gemstones. It certainly is the hardest with a 10 on Mohs’ scale of hardness 1-10. The hardness of a stone is a surface property.
The internal structure has a very good toughness, but not excellent. Cubic in crystalline structure, it is internally highly ‘ordered’. However there are slightly weaker atomic planes in certain directions and when knocked extremely hard against a tough surface, there’s a possibility it can ‘cleave’ along the weaker planes. It’s a flat break with a smooth surface called cleavage.
While many have survived numerous falls, it’s the angle in which it hits a surface, and it’s internal condition (inclusions, fractures) and so on that can cause a break.
So just a quick reminder…when wearing any gemstone, even diamonds in open settings especially in rings, be mindful.
Absolutely jewellery and gemstones are meant to be worn fearlessly and daily (not kept aside only for special occasions!!). Lets totally have fun wearing them and mindfully, avoiding knocking into anything.
If you have a story about any piece of jewellery (whatever the gemstone), that has taken a fall or a knock, survived or seriously damaged, please share! I’d love to hear about your experiences xx
*photo creds to my little daughter:)
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