Why Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

August 27, 2018

We all know that a diamond holds an unexplained allure for everyone, and women especially love those stones. It is not only about the cost, as some people are unkind enough to hint at. It cannot be only about the dazzling brilliance, as most people assume. It cannot be only about the fact that a diamond takes thousands of years to get created. All of these factors do make a diamond unique, but there is still some unknown quantity over and above this that makes diamonds a girl’s best friend.

But the mystique of diamonds has also been perpetuated over the years by some interesting urban legends. Read on to find out more about some unbelievable stories:

• You have surely used a lead pencil and marked the black line of the lead core on paper. That is actually not lead, but a very soft form of carbon (which is why it breaks so often). And diamonds are also made from the same element carbon, only the atoms are arranged differently making it the hardest material known to man.
• While a diamond is the world’s hardest substance, it is also flaky and brittle if stuck at the correct angle. If you are aware of the crystal structure of a diamond, then you can actually break the diamond with a single well-aimed blow at the right point.
• Diamonds are formed deep within the earth’s crust, at an unbelievable depth of 100 miles below the surface, where the high temperature and pressure levels provide the ideal conditions for formation. But the diamonds get thrown up into higher levels by volcanic eruptions, from where they are mined.
• Because diamonds take millions of years to form, that is why we have seen different countries become primary sources of diamonds over the years. India was the biggest producer till the 17th century, followed by Brazil, and for the last 200 years or so, South Africa has been the place for diamonds.
• The fascination with diamonds is not a recent phenomenon. Even from before Christ we have references made to the tremendous value, brilliant shine and unbreakable hardness of diamonds.
• You might find it difficult to believe but some diamonds might have come to us from outer space. The Carbonado diamonds, for example, are believed to have come to earth from an asteroid crashing into the earth’s surface more than 3 billion years ago.
• While Antwerp (Belgium) is the manufacturing capital of the diamond world, the purchasing capital of diamonds is New York. Would you believe that 80% of the world’s diamonds are first bought in the city of New York? From there they make their way to auctions across the world.
• Usually diamonds are mined under heavy security and tremendous restrictions. But there is a place where you can get to look for diamonds and keep what you find. It is called the ‘Keep What You Find’ diamond mine, and is the only one of its kind in the world. It is in the province of Arkansas in the United States.

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