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Apr 29, 2009, 01:58 PM
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#1 |
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Anyone knows how to recognize precious stones?
So I happened to find this on the side-walk today.
It shined more than a scrap piece of broken glass, that's why I picked it up. Though it doesn't make a prism-like refraction... And well, I managed to scratch glass quite easily with it... Here it's shown next to a screw from my pc case, (for size comparison) Am I..... lucky?   This is not the camera's flash but the sunlight:    Any clue what it might be? I don't want to go to a jeweller and have him laugh at me... and I got no diamonds/precious jewellery myself to compare it to... 
Last edited by Black Panther; Apr 29, 2009 at 02:12 PM. |
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Apr 29, 2009, 02:18 PM
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#2 |
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It's most likely a cubic zirconia
* Dispersion: With a dispersive power greater than diamond (0.060 vs. 0.044) the more prismatic fire of cubic zirconia can be seen by even an untrained eye.[citation needed] * Hardness: Cubic zirconia has an 8.5 to >9.0 on the Mohs hardness scale vs. a rating of 10 for diamonds. * Specific gravity: Cubic zirconia crystals are heavyweights in comparison to diamonds; a cubic zirconia will weigh about 1.7 times more than a diamond of equivalent size. * Flaws: Contemporary production of cubic zirconia is virtually flawless,[citation needed] whereas most diamonds have some sort of defect, be it a feather, included crystal, or perhaps a remnant of an original crystal face (e.g. trigons). * Refractive index: Cubic zirconia has a refractive index of 2.176, compared to a diamond's 2.417. * Cut: Under close inspection with a loupe, the facet shapes of some cubic zirconias appear different from diamonds. * Color (or more precisely, the lack thereof): Only the rarest of diamonds are truly colorless, most having a tinge of yellow or brown to some extent. By comparison, cubic zirconia can be made in most cases entirely colorless: equivalent to a perfect "D" on diamond's color grading scale. * Thermal conductivity: Cubic zirconias are thermal insulators while diamonds are among the most efficient thermal conductors, exceeding copper. This makes telling the difference between diamond and cubic zirconia quite easy for those with the right instruments. gotta love wikipedia  But I would check with a jeweler, sometimes it's hard to tell if you don't have something to compare it to. Never know, you might be pretty lucky there
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Apr 29, 2009, 04:03 PM
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#3 |
 
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It did scratch glass though, Cubic Zirconias don't do that IIRC.
Edit: Upon further research, some say yes, some say no. Most say no, but who knows?
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Apr 29, 2009, 05:03 PM
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#4 |
 
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Put it on a bit of very hard wood or a house brick & smack it hard with a hammer ! If its diamond it wont smash.
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Apr 29, 2009, 05:05 PM
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#5 |
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And if it doesn't smash, you've made yourself a very pretty diamond encrusted plank of wood! Highly sought after by lady folk the world over.
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“If you don't dip your words in sugar, rainbows and teddy bears people will think you wish to hunt them down to torture and eventually kill them.” -DanTheBanjoman |
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Apr 29, 2009, 05:06 PM
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#6 |
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Ye he'll be needing a screw driver to dig it out !
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Apr 29, 2009, 07:06 PM
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#7 |
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Eligible for custom title
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Near colorless, and the refractive index is almost nonexistant in your pictures however.
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Yes I am evil, yes you can have some.
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Apr 29, 2009, 08:32 PM
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#8 |
 
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My.....preeeeeeeeeeecioussssssssssssss............ .
That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. 
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