12 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know About Diamonds

Now I'm sure you don't want to hear that diamonds are a metastable allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. "Give me some facts that are truly amazing and that actually make sense to me!" Well, your wish is my command. Here are 12 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know About Diamonds.

1.       Diamonds were formed between 900 million and 4.25 billion years ago, roughly 150km to 200km below the Earth's surface.

2.       A diamond has the indentation hardness of 1.25 million tons per square inch. That means if you placed the Eiffel Tower upside down on top of it, the precious gem would still be in the most perfect condition.

3.       A vivid red diamond would be the rarest color. They can easily sell for well over $1000000 per carat

Natural red diamonds from the Argyle Mine - Australia

4.       Diamonds were first discovered in the Golconda region of India in 2500 BC.

5.       The largest diamond ever discovered was called the Cullinan diamond, and weighed in at an amazing 3106 carats, or 1.33 pounds. Discovered in 1905 in South Africa, the mine’s owner and the South African leaders gave the diamond to King Edward. The Cullinan was eventually cut into nine large diamonds and 100 smaller ones, and the three largest of these are on display in the Tower of London as part of the crown jewels.

6.       Scientists have discovered a planet that they believe is composed mostly of carbon, and is one-third pure diamond!  Discovered in 2004, the planet orbits a nearby star in the Milky Way, and is named “55 Cancri e”. Perhaps even more amazing, scientists have discovered a star that is essentially a diamond of ten billion trillion trillion carats.  They named the star Lucy after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Lucy’s other name is BPM 37093. It is the largest diamond that is present not in the Earth, but in the space. The diamond is the corpse of a star BPM 37093 and it is burned out. The star is 50 lightyears away from our planet Earth in the sky’s region that is the constellation Centaurus.

“55 Cancri e” is an exoplanet at a distance of about 40 light-years from our solar system.

7.       For centuries, the seeds of the carob tree were used as the standard for weighing precious stones. It's from this that we take the word "carat".

8.       Diamonds are heat conductors and can explode if heated past boiling point.

9.       Green diamonds get their color from radiation in the earth.

10.   Over 100 tons of synthetic diamonds are produced each year. They are used for skin exfoliant, saw blades for cutting asphalt and marble, among other tools.

INDUSTRIAL grade diamonds

11.   engagement rings are placed on the ring finger of the left hand. At one time it was believed that this finger contained a vein (the vena amoris) that led to the heart.

12.   Diamonds are hydrophobis (non-wetable). Because it is hydrophobic, diamonds will actually attract grease! This is why you need to get your diamonds cleaned regularly as they will appear cloudy.