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Engagement
Ring Guru > Additional Articles - Series 1
Colors of Diamonds
The standard conception of diamond is as a colorless stone. But different
color in diamond exists in myriad variations, from dazzling pinks and
yellows to blues and violet. In its chemically-pure state, a perfect
crystal of diamond is colorless, but with a little nitrogen, it appears
yellow. Boron instead of nitrogen creates a blue diamond. Colors from red
to violet, real white, and black are possible and can be complex to
understand scientifically. Colored diamonds are hot and sought-after, both
in the marketplace and in science.
Understanding color in diamond, means that you must know that light is a
form of energy. In this representation of the visible spectrum, low energy
is at the bottom and high energy at the top. Each color of the rainbow
corresponds to a particular energy. When the energy of light entering a
diamond equals the amount needed to bump an electron to another
configuration, parts of the spectrum are absorbed. A pure diamond is
colorless because visible light lacks sufficient energy to excite any of
its electrons so that no light can be absorbed. Conversely, impurities
such as nitrogen, boron or hydrogen, as well as structural flaws, can
create electron states which can be effected by the energy in visible
light.
The glinting spectrum or "fire" from a colorless diamond is one of the
diamond’s most prized attributes. It results from its excellent dispersion
- the separation of white light into its component rainbow colors. The
greater the dispersion, the greater the separation between the spectrum of
colors that are refracted from a gem.
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