18 Fun Facts About Diamonds

By Author: Raymond McDonald
Total Articles: 3
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1. Diamonds are old – most diamonds are over billions of years old. Inside the Earth's crust, the diamond growth process takes 1 billion to 3 billion years.
2. Contrary to popular belief, diamonds are not compressed coal! Pre-historic plants carbonize to form coal. This coal is found about 2 miles under the Earth's surface. Most diamonds are formed much deeper than that and they pre-date the first land plants. The carbon source of diamonds is actually carbonate rock or other organic carbon sources.
3. Only a small percentage of diamonds found in the world are gem-quality diamonds used by the jewelry industry. Rest of the diamonds are used for industrial and diamond-cutting purposes.
4. Your diamond just may be one in a million! For about a million rough stones mined, only one may be big enough to make a polished and cut 1 carat diamond.
5. You can mine for diamonds! Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas allows visitors to mine for diamonds and they can keep the diamonds they find.
6. The word "Diamond" means unconquerable and indestructible. It comes from the Greek word "Adamas "
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... 7. India was the first country where diamonds were first discovered. The country following the discovery of Diamonds in India, is Brazil.
8. The Cullinan is the largest diamond ever found at 3106 carats , or 1.33 pounds. It was discovered in 1905 in South Africa. The diamond was given to King Edward by the mine’s owner and the South African leaders. It was eventually cut into nine large diamonds and 100 smaller ones.
9. Far beneath the Earth’s surface about 100 miles below ground is where diamonds are formed. It is because of deep volcanic eruptions that diamonds travel upwards and are eventually found.
10. It is through a combination of tremendous pressure and temperatures of 1652–2372 degrees Fahrenheit beneath Earth’s surface at depths between 90 and 120 miles where Diamonds were formed.
11. It was in the 1840s in North America where diamonds were found, and soon not too later on in Africa in the late 1860s and early 1870s.
12. The only thing that can scratch a diamond is another diamond because only they are the hardest substance in nature.
13. It was believed by many ancient cultures that diamonds gave the wearer strength and courage during battle. Believing in this, some kings wore diamonds on their armor as they rode into battle.
14. It is during the cutting and polishing process of a diamond when it will lose approximately half its weight.
15. You would probably say the color of diamond is usually pale yellow to colorless, but it can also be brown, blue, green, orange, red, pink and black.
16. It was decreed by a law in Thirteenth-century France that only the King could wear diamonds.
17. A diamond cutter can take a full day, or longer, cutting a carat-sized diamond by hand, depending on the cut and the quality of the stone.
18. It was believed by the ancient Greeks, that diamonds were splinters of stars fallen on the earth. Whereas the Romans inherited the belief from Indian mythology, that diamonds had the power to ward off evil and thus wore them as talismans.