How Does a Cubic Zirconium Differ From a Real Diamond?

How is Cubic Zirconium Different from a Real Diamond?

A diamond can represent different things for different people. Most commonly, it is used to symbolize an engagement or to demonstrate everlasting love. Its shimmering light refraction is mesmerizing and its classy sophistication, timeless. The value of a diamond relies on several factors, the most important of which is the way it was created. Natural diamonds hold the most worth, with cultured diamonds placing a far second. Imitation diamonds made of cubic zirconium, carry almost no value at all, even though it would take an expert with a jeweler's loupe to tell the difference. What makes these seemingly similar materials so radically different in cost?

Natural Diamond

What makes an natural diamond so sought after? The answer is simple. Diamonds are the hardest naturally-occurring mineral. This makes them special. They are also difficult to come by, mostly harvested from diamond mines. They can be formed only when carbon-bearing materials are exposed to extreme pressure; while at the same time, kept at a temperature between 1652-2372 degrees Fahrenheit. This combination of circumstances is so rare that it only happens within the earth's most outer layer at the site of secure plate tectonics, or, even more rare, at a location where a meteor has struck the earth. Almost half of the world's diamonds can be found in South Africa or Central Africa, and there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the purchase of these diamonds, as the profits have been known to fuel war.

Cultured Diamond

In 2003, a company called Gemesis perfected the growing of synthetic diamonds and began creating them for widespread sale as jewelry. A process called "High Pressure, High Temperature" or shortened as "HPHT" takes a natural diamond seed and makes it grow in relatively the same way that diamonds grow in the earth. The only difference is that the HPHT process takes hours instead of years. These cultured diamonds are far less expensive to produce, and the process completely eliminates the cost of diamond mining. There are very few, if any, ways to tell the difference between naturally-occurring diamond and man-made diamonds. This fact has caused much controversy, and many scientists are scrambling to discover new fail-proof methods of differentiation.

Cubic Zirconium

Cubic Zirconium stones are derived from a completely different material altogether. They start out as zirconium oxide, which is grown into cubic crystalline. Over a hundred years went into the process for creating cubic zirconium for use in laser technology. In 1976, Russian scientists finally found a way to handle the zirconium oxide at its extremely high melting point and began to create the first cubic zirconia. It took less than 3 years for the popularity of this material to spread into mainstream jewelry making. Cubic zirconium looks very similar to natural diamonds, and the distinction can only be discovered by a trained and aided eye. While diamonds rate a 10 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness, CZ stones rate an 8.5. Diamonds score a 2.42 on the index of light refraction as compared to CZ's 2.17. Obviously, the most profound difference in the value of these jewels comes in the form of their rarity and cost to make available. Cubic Zirconium costs virtually nothing to produce and is extremely easy to come by.

Resources

• More Information about Diamonds and Imitation Diamonds