10 Interesting Facts about Diamonds You Should Know

2. The Earliest Use of Diamonds
Did you know the majority of diamonds mined today are used for industrial purposes? And that may also be the very first use of diamonds by humans. Ancient Chinese used diamonds to polish ceremonial burial axes in the late stone age or over 4,500 years ago. 80% of mined diamonds today (about 100 million carats) are used for the industrial purposes of cutting, drilling, grinding and polishing.

3. Diamonds Are Not the Hardest Substance on Earth
Diamonds are not the hardest substance on Earth. Whilst diamonds are the hardest natural mineral substance, it is not the hardest substance. In 2005, physicists compressed carbon fullerene molecules and heated them at the same time to create a series of interconnected rods called Aggregated Diamond Nanorods also known by the super cool name ?hyperdiamond”. It’s approximately 11% harder than a diamond.

4. Where are Diamonds Formed?
Diamonds are formed over a period of a billion or more years deep within earth?s crust, about 150km deep and are pushed to the surface by volcanoes. Most diamonds are found in volcanic rock, called Kimberlite, or in the sea after having been carried away by rivers when they were pushed to the surface.

5. Moon-Sized Diamond
Diamonds may not be rare in space as in 2004, astronomers discovered a diamond star that is 10 billion trillion trillion carats. Astronomers named the star “Lucy” after the Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. According to scientists, eventually  our own sun will turn into one such large diamond star.

6. The Most Brilliant Advertising Campaign of All Time: A Diamond Is Forever
In 1948, copywriter named Frances Gerety, came up with the slogan “A Diamond is Forever.” It’s a fitting slogan, as it reminds people that diamonds are a memorial to love and must stay forever in the family and not to be sold. Ironically, Gerety never married.

7. Weighing Diamonds
A diamond carat differs from a gold carat. One diamond carat is 200 milligrams (0.007055 oz). The word carat derives from the carob bean. Gem dealers used to balance their scales with carob beans because these beans all have same weight!

8. Diamond Colours
Not all diamonds are white as impurities impart diamonds shades of blue, red, orange, yellow, green and even black. Vivid blue, green and pink diamonds are the rarest. They are not the rarest gemstones however, pure red rubies are.

9. Diamond Engagement Ring Beginnings
The tradition of a diamond engagement ring started in 1477 when Archduke Maximillian of Austria gave a diamond engagement ring to Mary of Burgundy.

10. The largest diamond
The world?s largest diamond was the Cullinan, found in South Africa in 1905. It weighed 3,106.75 carats uncut.

Diamonds are endlessly fascinating!