History Of Synthetic Diamonds

As the name implies synthetic diamonds look like real diamonds but do not have the same properties as real diamonds. The ability to determine the differences between chemical compusosition, hardness, weight, and some of the light handling characteristics of real diamonds and synthetic diamonds with the naked eye is extremely difficult. Man-made diamonds are not considered synthetic diamonds because they do have the same properties as real or mined diamonds.

Cut Glass was probably the first material used to simulate a diamond. It is readily available, easy to cut and polish and when seen from a distance, looks good. With all of the information available to today's consumer trying to pass cut glass off as a diamond rarely works. Cut glass is still seen in costume jewelry and in the movies today because of its extremely low cost. The use of cut glass has widely been replaced by the most popular diamond alternative, cubic zirconium.

Since 1976 cubic zirconium has been the most widely used material for synthetic diamonds. Its low cost, durability and light handling characteristics have made it extremely attractive in producing low cost jewelry. Cubic zirconium light handling characteristics is so close to that of a diamond that only a trained eye can tell the difference between the two. The annual global production had reached 50 million carats by 1980. Cubic zirconium will weigh about 1.7 times more that a diamond. The hardness rating of cubic zirconium is between 8.5 and 9 whereas diamonds have a hardness rating of 10.

Moissanite or silicon carbide was named after Henri Moissan after he discovered the new mineral in fragments of a meteor found near Diablo Canyon in Arizona 1893. Henri Moissan is also credited as the first person to have created a man-made diamond in a libratory in 1892. Moissanite is a naturally occurring mineral that is slightly softer than diamonds with a hardness rating of 9.25 but has almost all of the other properties of a mined diamond. Charles and Colvard introduced gem-quality moissanite jewelry in 1998. The thermal conductivity test use to distinguish diamond from other artificial stones was rendered useless because moissanite has almost the same thermal conductivity as a diamond. It requires highly specialized equipment to determine if a gemstone is moissanite or a diamond.... Synthetic Diamonds continue

Diamonds – Its Birth And History

About 2-3 billion years ago, carbon bearing rock about 100 miles below the earth's surface was put under immense pressure and heated up to 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. The carbon atoms were forced to rearrange themselves in a crystalline structure and became diamonds. Various elements found their way into these new forms of carbon and created the different diamonds known today: pink, ruby red, yellow and blue. All the diamonds were transported to the surface in molten rock. Mines were dug near the kimberlite structures from where the diamonds emerged.

Diamonds were first mined in India. The Sanskrit word for diamond is vajra, meaning thunderbolt, and indrayudha, meaning Indra's weapon. The Hindus believed that diamonds represented the power of Indra and put them in the eyes of some of their statues. The earliest evidence of the use of diamonds as drills in India dates back to 400 BC.

In Greece, Plato described diamonds as living creatures, impersonating divine spirits. The Greek word for diamond comes from the words adamas, meaning invincible, and diaphanes, meaning transparent. The Greeks believed that diamonds came from the Valley of Diamonds in Central Asia. The diamonds were protected by snakes. Alexander the Great slew the snakes and brought the diamonds back to Greece.

The diamond was mentioned in the writings of Pliny the Elder in Rome prior to the first century AD. He wrote about the qualities of diamonds and their use on chisels to cut through all materials. The Roman poet Plautus wrote of the diamond as a token of love.

The rise of Christianity resulted in the decline of the diamond in Europe for nearly 1000 years. It was not until the Middle Ages that diamonds became acceptable again. Medieval treatises, lapidaries, described it as a medicine and antidote for poison. Marbode, Bishop of Rennes (1061-1081), wrote De gemmarum. He noted the spiritual and medicinal attributes of gems. He described the diamond as capable of bestowing indomitable virtues on the bearer, enabling him to strike hard against his enemies if they were set in silver, armored in gold, and fastened to the left arm.

It was during this time that people began to believe that diamonds could attract luck and success and defy astrological events. Many wealthy people used them as jewels on their clothing to increase their sexual power and capacity to attract others.

In the 13th Century diamonds began to reappear in numbers in Europe. King Louis IX of France (1214-1270) passed a law decreeing that only kings could possess diamonds because they were a symbol of courage, power and invincibility. The earliest centre of the diamond trade in Europe was located in Venice. Techniques for diamond cutting were developed around 1330. Later, the diamond trade advanced to Paris, Bruges and Antwerp.

By the 16th Century, faceted diamonds were admired for their brilliance and fire. It was during this period that the settings of diamonds became important. The diamond broach was replaced by the pendent. Diamonds came to dominate smaller jewels during the 17th Century and the traditional gold settings are replaced by silver to avoid casting yellow over the diamond's brillance.

In the 18th Century, diamonds started being mined in South America. New faceted designed were developed. Women began wearing diamonds more than men. The matching set of jewelry became more prized than a collection of stones in different sizes. Wearing of diamonds was limited to the night hours because they were considered too flashy in the daylight.

In 1866, diamonds were discovered in South Africa. The Kimberley mines established a new era in diamond mining and trade. Now there were enough diamonds for anybody who wanted them. Diamond settings changed again with the introduction of platinum.

Diamonds In The Rough - history of the African American Trek on the Golf Course - Brief Article

The History of the African American Trek on the Golf Course

For more than 100 years, African Americans have been avid participants in the game of golf. But while public golf coupes have enabled blacks to enjoy game for more than a century, with the exception of a few, including senior PGA player Charlie Sifford and young Masters champion Tiger Woods, there are still noticeably only a handful of blacks among the ranks of professional golfers. Yet, in every decade since the 1960s, an African American has made their mark on green. Organizations such as the National Minority Junior Golf Scholarship Association and the National Minority Golf Foundation have also done their part by exposing minority youth to the game and the business of golf.

Now, the recently foxed Minority Golf Coalition has set out on a course across cultural barriers to improve access to opportunities for current and yet-to-be discovered jewels at the tee.

1896-1949

1896 - The first African American professional golfer is John Shippen. Not only does he qualify for the U.S. Open, he comes in fifth.

1899 - George F. Grant, a prominent black dentist and an avid golfer, is granted a patent for the golf tee.

1916 - Cobb's Creek, one of the first public golf courses, opens in Philadelphia's Fairmont Park.

1926 - The United Golf Association (UGA) is founded by Robert Hawkins in Massachusetts. For nearly four decades the UGA serves the black golf community. It also sponsors the annual Negro Open.

1939 - Langston Golf Course opens. It symbolizes the development and desegregation of public golf and recreational facilities in the Washington, D.C., area.

1946 - Bill Powell designs and opens Clearview Golf Course in Bayside, New York.

1948 - Theodore "Rags" Rhodes, Bill Spiller and Madison Gunther file a civil lawsuit against the PGA for civil fights violations. Their action causes the PGA to amend its constitution to allow black golfers to play as nonmembers.

Diamonds are Ancient History!

Diamonds are the hardest substance known on Earth and they make sparkling jewelry as well as saw blades that can cut through pretty much anything. They form deep within the Earth's mantle layer (about 200 km deep) when atoms of the element carbon arrange themselves into a lattice under huge amounts of pressure from the load of rocks above.

Recently, geologists studying diamonds have identified the ages of thousands of diamonds from Southern Africa, where the mineral is most abundant. Their research found that there were only three times in Earth’s history when diamonds were made and that Earth no longer makes diamonds like it used to. “Something was different then. Perhaps the planet was hotter on the inside, or the composition of the rocks was subtly different. Whatever it was it has changed now,” stated Steve Shirey, of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., one of the project researchers.

The oldest diamonds were made 3.3 billion years ago when Earth was relatively young. The second time diamonds formed was 2.9 billion years ago. Small bits of rock within those diamonds, called impurities, indicate that they probably formed from rocks laid down in a shallow sea suggesting that the carbon that made the diamonds probably came from the remains of ancient sea life. The youngest diamonds on Earth are 1.2 billion years old although a few smaller diamonds are about 100 million years old.

Some people like diamonds because they are pretty, rare, or expensive but Dr. Steve Shirey has a different perspective. “I think of diamonds,” he said, “as being tiny time capsules that encase a little piece of rock protecting it for billions of years and providing us with a unique window on ancient times.”

A Brief History of Cut Diamonds

Diamonds, known for over 3000 years, were probably first found in India as loose stones associated with the sand and gravel of riverbeds (alluvial deposits). For centuries they were thought to posses magical powers, no doubt because of their hardness and luster, and were kept, uncut, as sacred objects or important treasures of state by the religious and political leaders of the day. Being regarded as talismans, it was thought that they would lose their powers if they were altered in any way.

It wasn't until the 11th century that diamonds were first worn, in their uncut form, as adornments. However, with the use of diamonds in jewelry, sometime in the 13th century it became known that a diamond's appearance could be enhanced by grinding and polishing [later by cleavage (below)] along the four octahedral faces (below) of the rough crystal. This was achieved by polishing with diamond dust at angles varying slightly from those of the original octahedral faces to form a point cut (below). (It had been discovered early on that the planes parallel to these faces are the hardest and can't be polished.) Point cuts were seen from the Middle Ages until the Renaissance period.

Diamond (gemstone)

The diamond (from the ancient Greek adámas, meaning "proper" or "unalterable") is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. Diamonds have been known to humankind and used as decorative items since ancient times; some of the earliest references can be traced to India. Diamond's hardness and high dispersion of light make it useful for industrial applications and jewelry. One of the characteristics of diamonds that make them so desirable as jewelry is their tendency to disperse white light into its component colors, giving the diamond its characteristic "fire". Diamonds are such a highly traded commodity that multiple organizations have been created for grading and certifying diamonds based on the four Cs which are carat, cut, color, and clarity. Other characteristics, such as shape and presence or lack of fluorescence also affect the desirability and thus the value of a diamond used for jewelry. Perhaps the most famous use of a diamond in jewelry is in engagement rings, which became popular in the early to mid 1900s due to an advertisement campaign by the De Beers company, though diamond rings were used to symbolize engagements since at least the 15th century. The diamond's high value has also been the driving force behind dictators and revolutionary entities, especially in Africa, using slave and child labor to mine blood diamonds to fund conflicts.

Natural History Of Diamond - How Diamond Is Formed

Diamonds were formed billions of years ago under intense heat and pressure when diamond-bearing ore was brought to the surface through volcanic eruption. After the magma cooled, it solidified into blue ground, or kimberlite, where precious rough diamonds are still found today.

Natural diamond is formed where carbon has crystallized under exposure to high pressure and temperature. the pressure must be between 45 and 60 kilobars and the temperature between 900 and 1300 °C.

These conditions occur naturally only in the lithospheric mantle, below the continental plates, and at meteorite strike sites.

In the lithospheric mantle, the proper temperature and pressure are usually found in depths of 140-190 kilometers. The correct combination of temperature and pressure is only found in the thick, ancient, and stable parts of continental plates where regions of lithosphere known as cratons exist. Presence in the cratonic lithosphere for long periods of time allows diamond crystals to grow larger.

The slightly misshapen octahedral shape of rough diamond crystal in matrix is typical of the mineral. Its lustrous faces also indicate that this crystal is from a primary deposit.

Through studies of carbon isotope ratios (similar to the methodology used in carbon dating, except with the stable isotopes C-12 and C-13), it has been shown that the carbon found in diamonds comes from both inorganic and organic sources. Some diamonds, known as harzburgitic, are formed from inorganic carbon originally found deep in the Earth's mantle. In contrast, eclogitic diamonds contain organic carbon from organic detritus that has been pushed down from the surface of the Earth's crust through subduction before transforming into diamond. These two different source carbons have measurably different 13C:12C ratios. Diamonds that have come to the Earth's surface are generally very old, ranging from under 1 billion to 3.3 billion years old.

The high pressure and temperature required for diamond formation also occur during meteorite impact. Tiny diamonds, known as microdiamonds or nanodiamonds, have been found in meteorite impact craters. These can be used as one indicator of ancient impact craters.

Diamonds formed in extraterrestrial space, then deposited on earth by meteorites, have been found in South America and Africa.

Diamonds are usually brought to the Earth's surface or closer to it by volcanic action and dispersed in an area by water erosion or the action of glaciers. The latter are usually not in high enough concentrations to make them commercially viable sources of diamonds.

Volcanic pipes that reach 150 km or more are relatively rare, but they are the ancient conduits of magma that transported diamonds closer to the surface, where they can be mined.

Certain minirals which are formed and transported from the depths in the same conditions as diamonds, are used as indicators by prospectors looking for sources of diamonds. The most common ones are chromian garnets (usually bright red Cr-pyrope, and occasionally green ugrandite-series garnets), eclogitic garnets, orange Ti-pyrope, red high-Cr spinels, dark chromite, bright green Cr-diopside, glassy green olivine, black picroilmenite, and magnetite.

Every natural diamond is immensely old, formed long before dinosaurs roamed the earth. The youngest diamond is 900 million years old, and the oldest is 3.2 billion years old.