Ethics

Diamonds, what can you say about them, they're just beautiful everyone wants them. Diamonds is a lasting symbol of the powerful bond of love. Its strength, brilliance and value are as unique as the individuals who wear them. A diamond's worth is based on four levels which is the 4 C's cut, carat weight, color and clarity but we also have to think about the diamonds transparency and shape. In this paper, I will talk to about the structure and properties of a diamond, the forming of naturally and synthetically and the history.

Diamonds are the most unique forms of gems. "There are certain characteristic that distinguishes diamonds from other precious stones is that diamonds are one of the two best known forms of carbon, which is the hardness and high dispersion of light that makes it useful for industrial applications and jewelry and the well known allotrope is graphite. Diamonds are specifically renowned as a mineral with superlative physical qualities because of its excellent abrasives diamonds could only be scratched by other diamonds, which means they could be extremely polish well and it could retain its luster. 130 million carats are mined annually which is worth about $9 billion dollars" (Diamonds 1). Diamonds have been around since the beginning of the civilization. The name "diamond" originated from the Greeks. "Diamond has become popular since the 19th century because the cutting and polishing methods have improved but it's commonly known by the "four Cs": carat, clarity, color and cut. What really interesting is that about four times the mass of natural diamonds are produced as artificial diamonds annual. The majority of synthetic diamond production remains small but, defective diamonds are only suitable for industrial-grade use, but now with gem-quality synthetic diamonds are becoming available. Diamonds can be found in many different regions of the world. For the most part natural diamonds start off in central and southern Africa, even though major sources of the mineral have been discovered in Canada, Russia, Brazil, and Australia. Another quality that characterizes diamonds is that they are generally mined from volcanic pipes, which are deep in the Earth where the high pressure and temperature enables the formation of the crystals" (Diamonds 1).

"Diamonds have a chemical build up of tetrahedral bonded carbon atoms. The bonding of diamonds typically crystallize in the cubic crystal system and consist of tetrahedral bonded carbon atoms. Lonsdaleite is a polymorph of diamond that crystallizes with hexagonal symmetry; it is rarely found in nature, but is characteristic of artificial diamonds. A cryptocrystalline variety of diamond is called carbonado. As a result of these bonding are properties such as extreme hardness of diamond, its high dispersion index, and high thermal conductivity. These properties form the basis for most modern applications of diamond. A colorless, grey or black diamond with a tiny radial structure is a spherulite. The tetrahedral arrangement of atoms in a diamond crystal is the source of many of diamond's properties; graphite, another allotrope of carbon, has a rhombohedral crystal structure and as a result shows dramatically different physical characteristics opposing to diamond, graphite is a very soft, dark grey, thick mineral" ( Diamonds 2).

The stability of a diamonds been known since ancient times, and is the source of its name. "However, aggregated diamond nanorods, an allotrope of carbon first synthesized in 2005, are now believed to be even harder than diamond. The hardest diamonds in the world are diamonds from the New England area in New South Wales, Australia. These diamonds are generally small, perfect to semi perfect octahedral and are used to polish other diamonds. Their hardness is considered to be a product of the crystal growth form, which is single stage growth crystal. Most other diamonds show more evidence of multiple growth stages, which produce inclusions, flaws and defect planes in the crystal lattice all of which affect their hardness" (diamonds 3). Diamonds have been used for many different purposes. Industrial use of diamonds has historically been associated with their hardness; this property makes diamond the ideal material for cutting and grinding tools. It is one of the most known and most useful of more than 3,000 known minerals. As the hardest known naturally occurring material, diamond can be used to polish, cut, or wear away any material, including other diamonds. Common industrial adaptations of this ability include diamond-tipped drill bits and saws, or use of diamond powder as an abrasive. Other specialized applications also exist or are being developed, including use as semiconductors: some blue diamonds are natural semiconductors, in contrast to most other diamonds, which are excellent electrical insulators. Industrial grade diamonds are either unsuitable for use as gems or synthetically produced, which lowers their price and makes their use economically feasible. Industrial applications, especially as drill bits and engraving tools, also date to ancient times.

The hardness of diamonds also contributes to its suitability as a gemstone. Because it can only be scratched by other diamonds, it maintains its polish extremely well, keeping its luster over long periods of time. Unlike many other gems, it is well-suited to daily wear because of its resistance to scratching--perhaps contributing to its popularity as the preferred gem in an engagement ring or wedding ring, which are often worn everyday. Unlike hardness, which only denotes resistance to scratching, diamond's toughness is only fair to good. Toughness relates to a material's ability to resist breakage from forceful impact. As with any material, the macroscopic geometry of a diamond contributes to its resistance to breakage. Diamonds cut into certain particular shapes are therefore more prone to breakage than others.

Diamonds occur in a variety of transparent hues -- colorless, white, steel, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink, brown--or colored black. Diamonds with a detectable hue to them are known as colored diamonds. Colored diamonds contain impurities or structural defects that cause the coloration, while pure or nearly pure diamonds are transparent and colorless. Most diamond impurities replace a carbon atom in the crystal lattice. The most common impurity, nitrogen, causes a yellowish or brownish tinge.

Diamonds exhibit a high dispersion of visible light. This strong ability to split white light into its component colors is an important aspect of diamond's attraction as a gemstone, giving it impressive prismatic action that results in so-called fire in a well-cut stone. The luster of a diamond, a characterization of how light interacts with the surface