Recently in the news, diamonds have raised their heads in many situations, the most prominent being the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe and the trial of Charles Taylor, ex-president of Liberia.

However after a little bit of delving and sifting, the truth about diamonds comes out.

The diamond is the hardest natural substance known to man, produced by eons of high pressure and temperature extremes inside the earth.

What is a simple carbon atom is transformed a complex crystalline lattice structure which has a lot of top-notched qualities that include durability, being chemically resistant, its light dispersion and refraction properties, as well as its abilities to scratch metals.

That is why the diamond one of the best known and most sought after precious gem.

What we mostly know about the diamond today is what we have learned through advertising and the movie industry.  In the jewellery industry, diamonds are the most popular, making more money than all the other gemstones combined.  Part of its popularity is because of its high lustre qualities, a natural property of the diamond that is enhanced by the expertise of a diamond cutter.

But diamonds have other practical uses as well.  Actually, more of these gems are used in industrial applications, rather than in the jewellery making business, as not a lot of natural diamonds found in mines are suitable as gemstones.

Synthetic diamonds, or those that are man-made in a laboratory, are also produced to meet the demands of industrial use.  These uses are mainly the following:

-          cutting and grinding tools such as drill bits and saws

-          abrasives that cut and polish other materials, including other gemstones

-          fine engraving tools with detailed precision

-          coatings for files

-          semiconductor coatings and materials for microchips and computer processors.

-          laser components for precise and durable optical equipment

-          windows that are used to cover openings of lasers, x-rays and vacuum chambers

-          speaker domes that enhance the performance of high quality speakers

-          heat sinks to conduct heat away from sensitive parts of high performance microelectronics

-          low friction micro-bearings placed in tiny mechanical devices like watches

But in truth there are a few other facts about diamonds that are kept quiet.

Diamonds are not rare

Although you won't stumble across a diamond while digging in your tomato garden, they are far more common than their cost suggests.  The big gem companies aggressively control the supply that arrives at market, creating artificial scarcity and high prices.

Diamonds have not always been symbols of love and marriage.

Diamonds were never ever the symbols that they are supposedly portrayed to have been.  Traditionally they were given as symbols of statist privilege as opposed to love.  The myth was born in the 1930’s by an advertising agency.

So the next time your beloved expresses a wish for a ring of any sort to be given as a symbol or your devotion, perhaps consider another stone, or perhaps no stone.

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