Diamonds are a symbol of love, eternity, and beauty. They sparkle with brilliance all their own. Apart from their aesthetic value, diamonds have always been perceived as one of the most precious and valuable commodities in the world. Diamonds come in a variety of colors, ranging from classic white to yellow, brown, pink, blue, orange, green, and even purple-violet and grey. But why do diamonds come in so many colors and are expensive? Diamonds are naturally occurring carbon compounds with different colors if they may contain impurities of other elements. The most common diamond colors include blue and yellow. Some of these are caused by minute changes in chemical structure caused by slight differences in pressure or temperature, while others result from inclusions within the diamond itself.
Diamond has a cubic structure, in which the carbon atoms are arranged in a cubic arrangement. Cubic structure is the most common and stable of all crystal structures. A diamond is a hard, transparent mineral because it has a crystal structure.
Diamonds are one of the most sought-after precious gems in the world. Their stunning beauty and brilliance are due to their unique crystalline structure, which is a cubic lattice consisting of carbon atoms. The diamond crystal structure consists of a repeating pattern of carbon atoms which are held together by strong covalent bonds. Diamonds have a unique cubic crystal structure that is the result of octet completion. This arrangement allows each individual atom to form four covalent bonds with its nearest neighbors, thus completing an octet – a full set of electrons in its outer shell – and giving rise to the diamond's cubic shape. This octet completion reason is what makes diamonds so hard and durable, as well as so beautiful.
Classification of Diamonds
Diamonds are composed of carbon atoms, which are classified by their impurities. In order to classify diamonds, it is vital to understand the minute chemical elements present in their crystalline structure. As a result of their impurities, diamonds have different colors. In nature, diamonds are always colorless. It will exhibit some yellow and brown hues when the impurity elements of boron and nitrogen are present in the crystal lattice. Occasionally, diamonds display fancy colors such as blue, pink, purple, orange, green, and red.
Carbon atoms are arranged in a cubic tetrahedral manner in diamonds. Impurities like nitrogen and boron are present in the tetrahedral structure. There are two types of diamonds based on the presence of these elements: type | and type ||. A diamond containing nitrogen in its crystal structure will be classified as type |, while a diamond without nitrogen will be classified as type ||. 95% of natural diamonds are type | diamonds. Once again, type | diamonds were classified into two categories: type |a, and type |b. Nitrogen elements are arranged in pairs or clusters in type |a. Type |a is further divided into type |aA, and type |aB based on the position of nitrogen elements. In type |aA, Nitrogen is present as pairs also colorless in nature, and in type |aB nitrogen elements are present in cluster form. Type |a have colorless in nature, but shows very rarely some tins of yellow and brown. Type |b nitrogen elements are present in the crystal lattice as single isolated elements. 0.1% of natural elements are in the type |b category, which has very dark yellow and brown colors. There are between 1 and 2% of type ||a diamonds that are pure of carbons, which has colorless in nature. In Type ||b diamonds, boron elements are presented as impurities which result in color variations from grey to blue color. Around 0.1%natural diamonds are type ||b category. The table below list the different colors, reasons, and source of each diamonds
While it is not always known why some diamonds have certain colors, impurities are one of the l factors that can influence the color of a diamond. For instance, yellow and brown diamonds are caused by impurities of nitrogen in the crystalline structure. Blue and grey diamonds contain boron impurities, while orange diamonds contain nitrogen-vacancy centers. Pink diamonds are caused by the plastic deformation of the crystal lattice during its formation. Green diamonds get their color from radiation exposure, while purple-violet hues are caused by a combination of high pressure and temperature during the diamond's formation process. Black diamonds get their color from graphite or other minerals that were included during crystallization. Diamonds obtain their beautiful red color from a rare process that alters their crystal structure, causing light to pass through them differently from colorless diamonds.red diamonds are mostly expensive colored diamonds. Because there are only 20 - 30 exist in the world. These colored diamonds have become highly sought after by jewelry collectors and make for stunning pieces of jewelry when set in rings or necklaces.
It is very rare to find colored diamonds due to their rarity. There is only 1 colored diamond for every 10000 colorless diamonds. This makes colored diamonds more valuable than colorless diamonds.
