All About Black Diamonds

when you think of diamonds you probably imagine a colorless brilliant cut stone in recent years however many celebrities have rocked fancy colored diamonds including lil uzi's pink forehead diamond and the tiffany yellow diamond lady gaga wore the oscars today we're going to look at one color in particular black diamonds how do they form are they really from outer space are they valuable and why are we so obsessed with them let's find out as with a diamond of any color black diamonds are billions of years old there are some claims that black diamonds are younger not having reached their full diamond potential nothing could be further from the truth to know why black diamonds are black we must first explore how diamonds form imagine being deep inside the earth's mantle not the core not the crust but the mantle which is over 80 percent of earth's volume and made up of crystalline iron-rich rock the formation of natural diamonds requires very high temperatures and pressures these conditions occur in limited zones of earth's mantle about 90 miles or more below the surface where temperatures are at least 2000 degrees fahrenheit during deep source volcanic eruptions diamond bearing rocks called kimberlites are swept up by the molten magma on its journey to the surface diamonds can be mined from these kimberlites or found in river and beach gravel deposits where they accumulate after the kimberlite around them erodes away in fact this is where black diamonds are usually found but there are some theories that suggest some diamonds could have come from space there are two other ways in which diamonds are thought to form that are a little more out of this world one is through asteroid impact throughout its life the earth has been hit by many large asteroids when these asteroids strike earth they produce extreme temperatures and pressures great enough to manufacture diamonds this theory is supported by the discovery of tiny diamonds around several known asteroid impact sites who knew next diamonds are from outer space nasa researchers have detected large numbers of nano diamonds in some meteors a nanometer by the way is a billionth of a meter in diameter these are seriously small diamonds only about three percent of the carbon in these meteorites comes in the form of nano diamonds they're not even big enough to be used for industrial purposes so don't go digging up your backyard when you see a falling star the likelihood of you finding one is little to none well maybe not little to none recently a billion-year-old black diamond thought to be the largest cut in the world was bought at auction using cryptocurrency for 4.3 million what's unique is that this 555.55 carat black diamond originally called the enigma is a carbonado diamond which is found in deposits close to or on the earth's surface carbonados are only found in brazil and the central african republic which were connected for more than a billion years as the supercontinent called rodinia sotheby's auction house said this adds to the theory that carbonados come from space as it was while they formed part of this supercontinent that the area was believed to have been struck by meteorites you may be asking why are black diamonds black it's a great question the answer was only recently discovered naturally black diamonds are so because of numerous minute mineral inclusions these can be graphite pyrite or hematite all of which extend throughout the stone these diamonds may also have cleavages and fractures that were stained or became black due to graphitization while forming in fact the actual body color of a natural black diamond could range from near colorless to brown to olive green it's the concentration of these internal features that makes them appear black most fancy colored diamonds are colored so because of elemental impurities introduced while they're forming in the case of yellow and blue it's nitrogen and boron respectively the cause of pink and red is a little more complicated it's called plastic deformation plastic deformation occurs at increased temperatures and pressures during the post-growth stage of a diamond's crystal lattice where there's a slipping of blocks of crystals over one another along different crystallographic planes think of it like shuffling a stack of playing cards at extreme temperatures the diamond atoms become mobile and during the process of deformation they dislocate and slip these irregularities change the way the electrons absorb light therefore they're responsible for the creation of pinks reds and brown colored diamonds you may be thinking if pink yellow red and even some brown diamonds are considered fancy colored then black diamonds are too right well sort of black diamonds are only called fancy black because there's no exact grading system for them but they gotta be grouped somewhere the four c's of color clarity cut and carat weight is the standard by which colorless to near colorless diamonds are graded black diamonds fall outside this grading color range so their color is evaluated based on gia's color grading system for colored diamonds furthermore because black diamonds are opaque and in most cases heavily included gia does not grade their clarity also there's no variation in the tone and saturation of a black diamond unlike their pink yellow and blue counterparts so only the single grade term fancy black is used lastly gia does not issue grading reports for these diamonds instead they issue a colored diamond identification and origin report this simply states that the diamonds are described as fancy black and their color is noted as either natural or treated unlike a colorless or fancy colored diamond when light enters a black one a lot of it is absorbed black diamonds also have a very lustrous metallic appearance due to the metallic inclusions throughout the stone and if you thought white diamonds were hard to cut black diamonds are even more so the graphite inclusions tend to make them even more brittle and it can take up to a year for a diamond cutter to complete a faceted black diamond this is probably why you've only heard of a handful of famous black diamonds they're just too hard to cut so why are we obsessed with black diamonds today let's discuss our best guess is it's because black diamonds are unique and dramatic which draws collectors to them a popular theory in italy is that touching a black diamond can save an ailing relationship because the diamond absorbs the problems when it comes down to it beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder and this beholder just thinks they're cool man tell us what do you think the real reason black diamonds are becoming so popular is and since gia doesn't grade them like other diamonds would you be willing to pay a higher price for one let us know down in the comments and don't forget to like subscribe and ring the bell so you don't miss out on future diamond episodes thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Gemstones

Views: 963,827

Keywords: jtv, jewelry, jewelry television, gemstones, gems, gravel butter dubai, diamond, colored diamonds, enigma, the enigma, enigma black diamond, pink diamonds, blue diamonds, red diamond, brown diamonds, the 4 Cs, 4 Cs, black diamond, black diamonds, space diamond, meteorite, meteorite diamond, black diamond jewelry, diamond jewelry, brazil, carbonados, carbonado, carbonado diamond, Central African Republic, gia, faceted black diamond, graphite, pyrite, hematite, Sotheby, ancient diamond

Id: en_Upi_7DSU

Length: 6min 57sec (417 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 21 2022