“There are few things on Earth so rare that scientists lack the ability to study them properly. Take ball lightning as an example. Ball lightning is a very rare phenomenon described as spherical, exploding balls of electricity—like something from science fiction. It’s so rare that it doesn’t exist enough for scientists to study and fully understand. The same can be said for red diamonds.
Natural diamonds, as a whole, are among the rarest substances on earth. When we break out the category of natural color diamonds, we find that they are even rarer. In fact, according to the GIA, only 0.4% of all natural diamonds graded in the last twenty years have been fancy colors. Among all those fancy color diamonds, red is the rarest color. They are so rare that less than thirty true red natural diamonds are known to exist.
How Red Diamonds Get Their Color
A diamond is a crystalline form of pure carbon formed under extreme conditions within the Earth up to three billion years ago. Elements other than carbon or natural radiation introduced during formation can alter a natural diamond from a colorless crystal to one that exhibits almost any color of the rainbow. For instance, natural radiation within the earth can cause green diamonds; boron can cause blue diamonds. On the other hand, red diamonds are not thought to be caused by foreign elements like other diamond colors.
Instead, scientists believe red diamonds are caused by an extreme version of crystal lattice distortion—the same thing that makes pink diamonds pink. This distortion is created naturally, deep in the earth, by extreme heat and pressure in every direction after the stone was formed.
The extra heat and pressure can change the position of the carbon atoms inside the diamond, causing them to reflect pink or—in extreme cases—red light. Although most believe this is what causes these diamonds to have their color, the phenomenon is so rare that scientists cannot study it enough completely.”
Click on the link below for the full intriguing story…
Why the Red Diamond is the Rarest and Most Valuable of All
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