Diamonds?

Well, i guess for ppl like me who don't even patronise the jewellery shop it's something new. So if you tell me what are the "4 Cs", I would give you a blank stare. What the hell are you talking about???

And the salesperson may tell you they stand for clarity, cut, carat and colour...So what is so great about this carbon thingy? Btw, carbon makes up more than 18% of our body. Diamonds form about 161 km below the Earth's surface, in the molten rock of the Earth's mantle, which provides the right amounts of pressure and heat to transform carbon into a diamond. In order for a diamond to be created, carbon must be placed under at least 435,113 pounds per square inch (psi or 30 kilobars) of pressure at a temperature of at least 400 Celsius.

Now there is this thing about kimberlite pipes which are created when the magma flows through deep fractures in the earth.The eruptions push the diamond, rock and minerals through the mantle and crust.This can happen within a few hours. Btw, the crust is abt 100km thick and mantle is abt 2900 km thick. The magma eventually cooled inside these kimberlite pipes, leaving behind conical veins of kimberlite rock that contain diamonds. Kimberlite is a bluish rock that diamond miners look for when seeking out new diamond deposits.

A diamond ranks a 10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale which is much harder than Quartz and Topaz... Basically, cut refers to how the diamond has been cut and its geometric proportions. Clarity is the measurement of a diamond's flaws, which can rank from flawless to Very very slight, very slight...Well, carat is the weight of diamond. 1 carat is 200 mg.
Color - In referring to transparent diamonds, the color scale runs from D to Z, beginning with Icy White -- the color of the most expensive diamonds -- and ending with a light yellow.

Diamonds were actually not that popular with the American public. The reason why we pay so much is because of the diamond cartel, called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., which is based in South Africa started advertising and the market was mostly controlled mainly by them."A diamond is forever" sounds so familiar to us. Actually , it was created by the N.W. Ayer advert agency in 1947 which greatly changed the diamond mkt.

"Later ads by De Beers told consumers to hold onto their family's diamond jewelry and to cherish them as heirlooms -- and it worked. This eliminated the aftermarket for diamonds, which further enabled De Beers to control the market. Without people selling their diamonds back to jewelers or to other people, the demand for new diamonds increased. "

"Although we often think of diamonds as being clear, there are also blue, red, black, pale green, pink and violet diamonds. These colored diamonds are the truly rare ones. "