Can someone tell me the difference between a natural diamond and a lab created diamond?

Is a lab created diamond still a real diamond?|||Just me,





Yes, lab created diamonds are still diamonds. The essential structure and composition of a diamond is the same regradless of how it is made, because this is what defines a material. But there are minor differences between lab diamonds and natural diamonds. The majority of lab diamonds have a yellow tint because nitrogen from the air is easily able to leak into the experimental setup and contaminate the diamond. However, there are also natural diamonds that are yellow. Lab diamonds also have types of inclusions and defects that are not as abundant, or not as obvious, in natural gem quality diamonds. There are ways of telling the difference, but as diamond growing technology (such as CVD, see post above) becomes more advanced, it is getting harder and harder. De Beers has an entire department dedicated to methods of identifying lab synthesized diamonds because they are a threat to their monopoly, and from what I hear they're having some trouble keeping up with things.|||Natural diamonds are mined. There are two ways to manufacture diamonds.





One was brute force. Some Russians became pretty good at it, and their machines were eventually brought to Florida by Gemesis. That company now crushes carbon under 58,000 atmospheres of pressure at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, until the stuff crystallizes into yellowish diamonds. The stones are attractive for jewelry but not pure enough for digital technology. Gemesis sells its gems through retailers at around $5,000 per carat. A mined yellow diamond can cost four times more.





The other process is called chemical vapor deposition, or CVD. It's more subtle. It uses a combination of carbon gases, temperature and pressure that, Linares says, re-creates conditions present at the beginning of the universe. Atoms from the vapor land on a tiny diamond chip placed in the chamber. Then the vapor particles take on the structure of that diamond 鈥?growing the diamond, atom by atom, into a much bigger diamond.





Most gemologist can not tell the difference between a natural diamond and a CVC diamond except the CVC diamond has less flaws.





De Beers doesn't like it one bit. De Beers launched a public relations campaign and an education program for jewelers, all aimed at portraying mined diamonds as real and eternal 鈥?and CVD or Gemesis diamonds as fake and tacky.





Manufacturers want to market their gems as "cultured diamonds," taking a cue from cultured pearls. De Beers is fighting that label. "It's misleading and unacceptable," says De Beers executive Simon Lawson. "It makes people think (manufacturing diamonds) is an organic process, and it's not."





It is the process that is different, but chemically and structurally it is the same.|||$$$$ Real Diamonds


Diamonique from QVC more affordable.


I believe lab created diamonds - jewelers are forced to tell you the difference.|||lab created diamond will not sine when light is'nt on it