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Diamond

allotrope of carbon often used as a gemstone and an abrasive

Diamond is a metastable allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is renowned as a material with superlative physical qualities, most of which originate from the strong covalent bonding between its atoms. A glimmering glass-like mineral that is an allotrope of carbon in which each atom is surrounded by four others in the form of a tetrahedron.

The Hope Diamond, 45.52 carats (9.104 g), fancy dark grayish-blue


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A

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The two hundred ninety-six gems of the Aurora Diamond Collection as exhibited in the Natural History Museum in London under UV light.
 
A museum display of jewelry items.
  • We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to ... strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring—to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services.
  • The substantial diamond gift can be made a more widely sought symbol of personal and family success — an expression of socio-economic achievement.

B

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  • Our understanding of the first use of diamond is based on textual evidence from 500 BC in India. But even that - though probably right - is speculative. This is physical evidence a couple of thousand years earlier.
  • Stone age craftsmen in China were polishing objects using diamond 2,000 years before anyone else had the same idea.
    • BBC, in "Chinese made first use of diamond".
  • Using an atomic force microscope to examine the polished surfaces on a nanometre scale, the scientists found the diamond-polished surface most closely matched the surface from the ancient axe.
    • BBC, in "Chinese made first use of diamond".
 
A round brilliant cut diamond set in a ring
  • What is a diamond? Not everybody knows.
    The jeweler tells you by instinct growing from long practice,
    the false from the true
    He will judge by colour, brilliancy, hardness and specific gravity-
    that is he should go deep as the latter.
    The mineralogist will tell you scientifically what a diamond is;
    but he knows little of the shape, colour, and real beauty of the crystal as a gem.
    As for the public though there be good judges amongst them, they know but little.
    They have been deceived by forged and imitated notes,
    by things issued from the bank of Elegance, instead of from the Bank of England.
    What wonder, then, if in a more difficult matter they are cheated?
    What wonder that they scarcely tell the real and pure gem from the
    Faux brilliance,et morceaux de verre
    of which satirist speaks?
    Let us try, therefore, to unite, for a moment,
    the jeweler and savant, in describing the diamond, joining the two together for the benefit of the public.
 
The two hundred ninety-six gems of the Aurora Diamond Collection as exhibited in the Natural History Museum in London under natural light.
  • Gems like these [The Aurora Pyramid of Hope] were not meant to be imprisoned in a dark underground safe for the momentary pleasure of a few eyes. The true value of a collection is sharing it with as many people who are interested to experience nature’s diversity of expression. It’s thrilling to think that the collection will be seen by the 3.6 million visitors that come to the Natural History Museum each year.
    • Alan Bronstein, in “Aurora Collection on Display at London's Natural History Museum”

C

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Kimberley - Schematic diagram of a volcanic pipe
  • Diamonds are held under tons and tons of pressure, extremely high temperatures of fire and shuffled under shifting of tectonic plates, for a long, long time! Yet when they come out from there and are put on display for their beauty; does anybody stop to evaluate the diamond based upon all the shit it's been through and say "Remember that disgusting hole it used to be in? I bet it was hell in there!" No, people don't remember where a diamond has come from; they just see the beauty of it now. But it wouldn't have become so beautiful, you know, if not for all of that! So why should we look at other people, or at ourselves and evaluate them/ourselves based upon their/our pasts? Shouldn't we forget that? And only see the beauty that is in front of our eyes? Whatever it was, it made you beautiful! And that is what matters!”
  • Diamonds are (forever) Carbon too. Certainly, you prefer diamonds instead of charcoals. But chemically speaking, diamonds and charcoals are just carbon in different form. Under certain temperature and pressure, the mother-nature took more than 1 billion years for transforming carbon-bearing materials into clear and shining diamonds. No wonder you prefer diamonds instead of regular charcoals.
  • Unlike other carbons, a diamond uses all its bonding electrons to link with neighbouring atoms. These pair bonds are what give the gem unsurpassable hardness and fire.
    • Olivia St. Claire, in "The Sex Devotional: 365 Days of Passion, Positions, and Pure Pleasure", p. 309.
  • Diamond molecules refract light because they are shaped like pyramids. Try making a three point pyramid on your man.
    • Olivia St. Claire, in "The Sex Devotional: 365 Days of Passion, Positions, and Pure Pleasure", p. 309.

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E

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The Darya-I-Nur Diamond—an example of unusual diamond cut and jewelry arrangement
  • The diamond invention—the creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem—is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade. Until the late nineteenth century, diamonds were found only in a few riverbeds in India and in the jungles of Brazil, and the entire world production of gem diamonds amounted to a few pounds a year. In 1870, however, huge diamond mines were discovered near the Orange River, in South Africa, where diamonds were soon being scooped out by the ton. Suddenly, the market was deluged with diamonds.
  • The major investors in the diamond mines created the instrument in 1888 called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., and incorporated in South Africa. De Beers proved to be the most successful cartel arrangement in the annals of modern commerce. The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it is a mechanism for converting tiny crystals of carbon into universally recognized tokens of wealth, power, and romance ..."A Diamond Is Forever" became the official motto of De Beers.
  • The Koh-I-Noor is at present decidedly the lion of the Exhibition. A mysterious interest appears to be attached to it, and now that so many precautions have been resorted to, and so much difficulty attends its inspection, the crowd is enormously enhanced, and the policemen at either end of the covered entrance have much trouble in restraining the struggling and impatient multitude. For some hours yesterday there were never less than a couple of hundred persons waiting their turn of admission, and yet, after all, the diamond does not satisfy. Either from the imperfect cutting or the difficulty of placing the lights advantageously, or the immovability of the stone itself, which should be made to revolve on its axis, few catch any of the brilliant rays it reflects when viewed at a particular angle.

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The slightly misshapen octahedral shape of this rough diamond crystal in matrix is typical of the mineral. Its lustrous faces also indicate that this crystal is from a primary deposit.
  • Yeah, it's tough being smart and sexy, too. I have to say, I'm really not that attractive. Until I met my husband, I could not get a date. I promise you it's true. My husband Jeff Richmond saw a diamond in the rough and took me in.
  • A diamond is a portion of crystalized carbon. That is what we have all been for so many years admiring; that is what the Greeks call adamas (the unconquerable) that is what Mrs Jones calls “a diamont,” and to which all sorts of poets and lovers have likened the prettiest and sweetest, and brightest eyes which ever shone.
  • You're a shooting star I see
    A vision of ecstasy
    When you hold me, I'm alive
    We're like diamonds in the sky
    At first sight I felt the energy of sun rays
    I saw the life inside your eyes

    So shine bright, tonight you and I
    We're beautiful like diamonds in the sky
    Eye to eye, so alive
    We're beautiful like diamonds in the sky

    Shine bright like a diamond
    Shine bright like a diamond
    Shining bright like a diamond
    We're beautiful like diamonds in the sky

G

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Panning for diamonds in Sierra Leone

H

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Sample of Lamproite.
  • Diamond deposits are not easily found. Diamonds occur in some of the rarest rock types on the surface of the earth, and when found, they are disseminated in trace amounts even in the richest deposits.
    • Edward Erlich, W. Dan Hausel, in "Diamond Deposits: Origin, Exploration, and History of Discovery".
  • Kimberlite intrusives are generally exposed over relatively small surface areas. They occur in the form of pipes, dikes, and sills that they may crop out over an area of a few hectares at the most. Other diamondiferous host rocks exhibit similar characteristics. For example , lamproite, another host rock, may occur in the form of dikes, sills, and small volcanoes . But lapmproite are much rarer than kimberlite.
    • Edward Erlich, W. Dan Hausel, in "Diamond Deposits: Origin, Exploration, and History of Discovery"
  • For millions of workers, gold and diamond mining is an important source of income. But the conditions under which gold and diamonds are mined can be brutal. Children have been injured and killed when working in small-scale gold or diamond mining pits. Indigenous peoples and other local residents near mines have been forcibly displaced. In war, civilians have suffered enormously as abusive armed groups have enriched themselves by exploiting gold and diamonds. Mines have polluted waterways and soil with toxic chemicals, harming the health and livelihoods of whole communities.
  • Approximately 130 million carats of rough diamonds are mined every year, including both gem-quality and industrial diamonds; about 70 percent, or 90 million carats, are gem quality. Russia, Botswana, Canada, and Australia are the world’s largest diamond producers, and the 10 largest mines account for over half of the world’s diamond production.
  • After rough diamonds are mined, they typically are exported to diamond trading hubs (or exchanges,) where they are sorted according to shape, color, size, and carat. The largest diamond trading hubs are in Antwerp and Dubai.
  • At least 70 percent of diamonds are cut and polished in India, largely because of low labor costs, while approximately 20 percent are cut and polished in China. Once diamonds are cut and polished, they are sent to jewelry manufacturers, and finally, to retailers. The United States is the largest market for diamond jewelry, accounting for over 40 percent of the world’s demand for polished diamonds.
  • For diamonds, almost all companies require their suppliers to comply with the Kimberley Process, which should allow them to identify the country of origin of their diamonds, though the scheme suffers from a number of weaknesses. None of the companies can identify all of their diamonds’ individual mines of origin.

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Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste... ~ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
  • Many individuals have, like uncut diamonds, shining qualities beneath a rough exterior.
    • Russell Gerald Johnston, in Random Wisdom, iUniverse, 01-Jun-2012, p. 372.

K

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  • I think it's fun to look at people with big diamonds. I see them in my audience all the time, with the fur coat, a woman whose hand is always out front, or the two fingers are on the cheek to show her diamond. I don't have anything against that.

L

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Glass replica of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond after its first cut. From the Reich der Kristalle museum in Munich.
 
Queen Alexandra wearing the Koh-i-Noor in her coronation crown
  • It is a bloody stone [Koh-I-Noor] that stays with the conqueror, it has no loyalty but to the one who 'conquered the land' got it. It is not the possession of the stone that establishes the 'master ship' of the stone; it is the conquered land. The stone appears and falls in the laps of the conqueror. This is one stone that like a masters cannot be sold neither can be hidden and it is always found. It so far over centuries had the tendency to move towards the subcontinent.
  • He who owns this diamond Koh-I-Noor will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity.
    • Legend, quoted by Iqbal Latif, in "Diamonds are forever: 'Koh-i-noor diamond will not be returned.' Cameron".
  • The Koh-i-Noor has been of ill-fortune only to the few who have lost it. To the long line of emperors, conquerors and potentates who through successive centuries have possessed it, it has been the symbol of victory and empire. And sure never more than to our Queen. However, if Her Majesty thinks it brings bad luck, let her give it back to me. I will take it and its ill-luck as speculation.
    • Iqbal Latif, quoting Lord Dalhousie, in "Diamonds are forever: 'Koh-i-noor diamond will not be returned.' Cameron".
  • Reborn, the stone was first mounted in a tiara for the Queen containing more than 2,000 diamonds, before being incorporated in the coronation crown of Queen Mary in 1911. In 1937 the Koh-i-Noor was transferred to a crown made for the Queen Elizabeth, the consort of George VI. There it remains to this day, set into a Maltese Cross. When the Queen Mother died in 2002 the crown was placed on her coffin for her lying in state.
    • Iqbal Latif, quoting in "Diamonds are forever: 'Koh-i-noor diamond will not be returned.' Cameron".

M

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Kimberlite from U.S.A.
  • It has the greatest thermal conductivity known. A sizeable stone held in the hand feels cold, hence the slang name "ice"
  • Splendid, too, was the Queen's tale of the Cullinan diamond which caused the Dutch diamond cutter to faint as he split the stone. 'My Grandmother,' Her Majesty told us, 'always referred to the two sizeable chunks hived off from the centre block as the "chips".'
  • Imagine you are walking along, and you trip over something and you turn around and find that it is a huge diamond. You would pick it up and do everything in your power to take care of that diamond because it might take care of you for the rest of your life.

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O

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  • Without heat and pressure, there would be no diamonds. Tough situations provide opportunities to shine. A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure. I am a passenger on the spaceship earth.

P

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An uncut diamond, not showing the prized optical properties of cut and polished versions.
  • A diamond is a pure crystal of carbon which those in the know believe started life deep in the earth many thousands of years ago. The carbon dislodged from the ledge by volcanic disturbances, mingled with molten rock and made its way under pressure along cracks and fissures towards the earth’s surface. Then more volcanic action probably occurred and the whole process repeated itself: break, fold, remelt and rise. The carbon finally transformed into a diamond and settled in a rocky mix of soil called “Blue Earth”, along with Pyrope, Garnets, Olivines, shiny flakes of Mica and a few other gems formed under similar pressure and heat.
  • Diamond is the hardest, natural susbstance known to man, with a top count of 10 to match the sun’s given number. Its name is derived from the Greek word adamas, meaning “Invincible” or Unbrekable, its structure is ultra-complex, and its atomic composition is held together by powerful bonding.
    • Magda Palmer, in “The Healing Power of Crystals”, p. 90
 
Tiffany Yellow Diamond in "Bird on a Rock"
  • Yellow diamond can be cut in countless styles from the modern round “brilliant” with 58 facets and the appearance of a spider’s web when viewed from above to the 25 faceted “full Dutch rose”.
    • Magda Palmer, in “The Healing Power of Crystals”, p. 90.
  • In the opinion of gemologists, the yellow Diamond is coloured by nitrogen impurity, which according to Scientists was gifted to our solar system by the incarnation of a once massive Star over ten times the size of our Sun more than a few billion years ago.
    • Magda Palmer, in “The Healing Power of Crystals”, p. 90.
  • The gem is appropriate as first half of Leo’ precious crystal, because Jupiter, the mutable influence on the sign at this point, seems, when viewed from Earth, to give a yellow light.
    • Magda Palmer, in “The Healing Power of Crystals”, p. 90.
  • Yellow diamond is well chosen because it is the Sun’s own crystal having no affinity with water, and also because Mars, the mutable planet in this area of the zodiac, has been observed to have its soil coated with a thin layer of white.
    • Magda Palmer, in “The Healing Power of Crystals”, p. 90-91.
  • White (clear) diamond is the flawless gem which is sometimes referred to as “of the first water”, meaning a Diamond of the purest kind. Traded by Indian merchants in the fourth century, it was called by them as “fragment of eternity”, and from Indian mythology comes the legend of Koh-I-Noor, which came to mankind on the forehead of Karna, son of the Sun and a princess of a reigning family. Legend decreed that only a god or a woman would be exempt from punishment and injury as a consequence of possessing this stone, and tragedy indeed stalked the “Mountain of Light” where it was kept before being seized, and in 1850, presented to Queen Victoria.
    • Magda Palmer, in “The Healing Power of Crystals”, p. 90-91.

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T

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  • ...of Awaiting and comes no more among his kin; not until the Sun passes and the Moon falls, shall it be known of what substance they were made. Like the crystal of diamonds it appeared, and yet was more strong than adamant, so that no violence could mar it or break it within the Kingdom of Arda.
  • Any life form in any realm – mineral, vegetable, animal, or human – can be said to undergo “enlightenment.” It is, however, an extremely rare occurrence since it is more than an evolutionary progression: It also implies a discontinuity in its development, a leap to an entirely different level of Being and, most important, a lessening of materiality. What could be heavier and more impenetrable than a rock, the densest of all forms? And yet some rocks undergo a change in their molecular structure, turn into crystals, and so become transparent to the light. Some carbons, under inconceivable heat and pressure, turn into diamonds, and some heavy minerals into other precious stones.... Since time immemorial, flowers, crystals, precious stones, and birds have held special significance for the human spirit. Like all lifeforms, they are, of course, temporary manifestations of the underlying one Life, one Consciousness. Their special significance and the reason why humans feel such fascination for and affinity with them can be attributed to their ethereal quality.

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V

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  • The diamond has been always esteemed by the ancients the rarest stone, and the most precious of all, either for its hardness, its fine brilliancy, its water, or its virtues.... it calms anger and foments love between man and wife, and is therefore called the stone of reconciliation.

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Anonymous

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