Additionally, the cutters found
that the man-made diamonds did not require the typical final polishing
with the fine-grained wheel (harder substances can take and hold a
polish better), and also did not become as hot on the polishing
wheel. Of great interest, when the cutters applied more pressure on
the polishing dop (for natural diamonds, increased pressure will
result in a faster polishing), the man-made diamonds simply removed
the diamond powder from the polishing wheel, rendering it useless.
With those noted differences, we can apply a scientific hypotheses as
to why the lab-grown diamonds have been shown to be slightly tougher
and harder than natural diamonds. The reason is largely related to how
nitrogen is incorporated into the lab-grown diamonds. Nitrogen
is present in basically all diamonds, whether lab-grown or
natural. This is no surprise, because nitrogen is both present
basically everywhere (nitrogen gas (N2) is 78.1% of the earths air and
exists in all living systems, including you) and is virtually the same
atomic size as carbon.
With its ubiquitous nature, and the fact that nitrogen makes a very
easy substitute for carbon atoms in a diamond crystal, Nitrogen
frequently jumps into diamond crystal as it grows - however, nitrogen
is also responsible for adding a yellow color to diamond. The most
prized color in white diamonds (colorless D/E/F diamonds) owe their
lack of color to lower levels of nitrogen.
Nitrogen has an interesting property in that where it is included in
diamond. It has the effect of making the crystal structure slightly
harder. When natural diamond is examined, you find that nitrogen can
be found in clumps inside the crystal (called N3 centers). By
comparison, in lab-grown diamonds, you will find that nitrogen atoms
are present but are regularly spaced throughout the diamond, rather
than clumped. By evenly dispersing the Carbon-Nitrogen bonds
throughout the crystal, you in effect build a slightly stronger
crystal vs. the natural diamonds habit of clumping the nitrogen,
producing weaker areas because of Nitrogen-Nitrogen bonds.
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