Most people get confused by the various terms related to diamonds, such as manmade, simulants, essence, synthetic, cultured, etc. In reality, all these are different terminologies used by various diamond retailers to show that a particular stone that is branded as diamond, is not actually a diamond. These terms often succeed in passing a stone off as a different form of diamond rendering it more valuable. One good example is cubic zirconia. When it comes to a diamond simulant ring, the stone would look exactly like a diamond but lack the physical qualities of a natural diamond. Note that some of the important characteristics of a diamond are given below.
  • It boasts an average density of 3.51
  • Refractive index of diamond is 2.4
  • It has cleavage in four directions
  • Luster index is 17.2%
  • Dispersion is 0.0444
However, this lack of qualities in the simulated diamonds does not mean that it is fake or artificial. The stone in a diamond simulant ring can either be natural or manmade. Consider quartz, white sapphire, etc., which are the options for natural simulated diamond rings, whereas, cubic zirconia, glass, Moissanite, etc are the examples for manmade simulated diamonds. Synthetic diamonds, meanwhile, get created in the lab by employing high temperature and pressure.