What Are the Properties of Diamonds?

Hardness

• One of the best known properties of diamond is its hardness. It scores 10 on the Moh scale of mineral harness, the top score possible. Oddly, diamonds can be broken by hitting them with a hammer. Hardness and toughness are two separate scientific readings measured in different ways. Because of its hardness, diamonds are used for industrial drills, but because of its poor toughness, they cannot be used as an engineering material.

Optics

• Diamonds are effective at fracturing the light spectrum, which is why high-quality diamonds sparkle so much. Because they give a wide spectrum, they are often used for optical prisms in scientific experiments. Diamonds will only be used in this way in well-financed scientific laboratories because they are so expensive.

Electrical

• Because of a variation of the carbon atom, diamonds are good electrical insulators because they limit the flow of current. Blue diamonds, which have a boron impurity, are semiconductors. This means they can transfer electrical currents at low resistance levels, making them efficient.

Thermal

• The thermal characteristics of diamonds are often used by jewelers to separate and identify real diamonds from imitations. Real diamonds are good conductors of heat and are often employed in silicon semiconductors to stop it from overheating. Jewelers use a thermal probe to transfer heat from a heated copper tip to a diamond. If it is real, the temperature drop from the copper should be almost instant.

Chemical

• Diamonds also contain various chemical properties which make it useful in certain areas. It will not corrode when exposed to oxygen like metals and is resistant to radiation. As it is a essentially a carbon atom it is also what is called biologically compatible. This means it has no negative effects on carbon-based life.