Diamond Diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. At room temperature and pressure, another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form, but diamond almost never converts to it. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are utilized in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools. They are also the reason that diamond anvil cells can subject materials to pressures found deep in the Earth. Because the arrangement of atoms in diamond is extremely
Diamond simulant non-diamonds) fails, it may damage the simulant—an unacceptable outcome for most jewelry owners, as even if a stone is not a diamond, it may still be of value. Following are some of the properties by which diamond and its simulants can be compared and contrasted. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a non-linear scale of common minerals' resistances to scratching. Diamond is at the top of this scale (hardness 10), as it is one of the hardest naturally occurring materials known. (Some artificial substances, such as aggregated diamond nanorods, are harder.) Since a diamond is unlikely to encounter substances