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White Diamonds
Most diamonds are colorless and are also known as "white diamonds." These are "pure" or "nearly pure" diamonds as they have no defects or other impurities that can cause colorization. White diamonds, however, are not always completely colorless as they can have a yellowish tint to them. White diamonds can range from colorless to tinted, with other ranges from faintly to lightly tinted.
Impurities
Very few diamonds are truly pure; however, there are impurities that can give them special characteristics, such as color. Most of the time, this is due to a high presence of other elements within the diamond. Boron can give a diamond a blue color while nitrogen can make it yellow. Green diamonds are formed by natural radiation.
Crystal Lattice
Red diamonds are caused by crystal lattice defects during their formation. The crystal lattice is the periodic array, or structure, of atoms within the diamond. In this case, grain lines appear in the diamond that are spaced very close together, and they emanate a color, such as red. The more grain lines in the diamond, the deeper the color will be. This natural process can also produce pink- and brown-colored diamonds. Significant amounts of these colored diamonds are from the Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia.
Irradiation
Artificially-colored diamonds are known as "synthetic" or " treated stones." These diamonds are colored in a process called irradiation. Diamonds can be bombarded with neutrons or electrons to give them a green to bluish color, and they are then treated with extreme heat (a process called annealing) to give them a pink color. Synthetically-colored diamonds are much less expensive than naturally-colored diamonds.