Quote:
Originally Posted by Trantor
I' ve been having a long running debate with my wife about "real" vs. man-made diamonds. My position is that if they are chemically identical, then they are the same material, and it should make no difference which one is used to make jewery.
I can talk until I am blue in the face because she knows the difference. The "real" diamonds are mined, and the "fake" diamonds are manufactored!
Got to hand it to De Beers and others running the World's diamond industry; Joseph Goebbels would be proud!
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As a solid-state chemist, who has even grown crystals of semi-precious stones (amtheyst in particular), I would agree with your position.
I had a roommate in grad school who's Dad owned a large chain of jewelry stores. I remember discussing once with him how they distinguished synthetic gemstones from natural. He said there were particular tests you could do for particular gems, but generally, the synthetic ones are
more perfect (fewer crystallographic defects).
As someone who has been married for almost 18 years, I know you are not going to convince your wife.
One exception to the wife-rule: my wife does have an amethyst necklace made from a crystal I grew. I guess that synthetic are ok if you can say "my husband made the stone".