What makes Diamond “Shine” and “Sparkle”?

If there is one word that everyone when they see the diamonds, it’s the “diamond sparkle” feature. The bright and shiny appearance of the diamond is the part that attracts people around the world. 

Diamond has been variously described as “Sparkling”, “a Rainbow colour shine” or “flashy light”. The sparkle and shine are the unique features of a diamond that attract women and make them fall in love with diamonds.

Diamond is one of the hardest minerals, as mentioned in the Mohs scale of hardness. It has a 3-dimensional arrangement and is formed when carbon atoms are linked together. So, we will explain why diamonds shine and sparkle, what property makes diamonds shine, etc.

Why does a diamond sparkle from the process of rough to polished? 

Diamonds are developed under very high pressure, found very deep in the Earth’s crust, and are billions of years old. As the diamond is formed naturally, each diamond will have some marks on it, known as inclusions. These are the flaws that are created in the diamond’s structure, and the fact is, most diamonds have them.

When a stone is mined, the manufacturer of rough stone will consider it while cutting and turning the rough stone of a diamond into polished stone. There are many factors that are considered by the manufacturer while the cutting process takes place. For example, the number and position of facets to be made, how big the diamond table is to be, etc. All these are very important for any manufacturer. This will decide the sparkle and shine of a diamond.

If the diamond has more Flaws or inclusions, it will make the diamond look less shiny and will degrade the diamond's overall quality. So, a manufacturer will care for the inclusions and try to make the diamond shine and sparkle the most.

Reasons for the diamond sparkle:

1. Density

When we talk about the density of a diamond, Diamonds have a cubic lattice crystal structure, which makes the light slow down when it passes through diamonds. As the light concept tells us that the light travels at the speed of 186,282 miles per second, but because of the diamond density, light slows down and provides a higher level of sparkle.

 2. Diamond Cut

Diamond’s cut has a huge impact on throwing the light back or to the next facet of a diamond. Any Brilliant cut diamonds are designed in such a way that they have 57 facets and an ideal cut, but not a very shallow or deep cut, for the light to pass perfectly and make the diamond sparkle.

3. Diamond Clarity

Diamond's clarity is also one of the important points, as fewer inclusions or flaws in the diamond help in the less distorted light when it passes through the diamond. Like, the imperfect diamonds will be less sparkling or shining than the ideal or perfect one.

4. Diamond Colour

The colour of a diamond will have an impact on the diamond’s shine and sparkle. The diamonds with less colour or that are colourless will show more sparkle than those with shades like yellow or brown.

However, in short, the diamonds with the colour tend to have less shine and sparkle than the ones which is white or colourless.

5. Jewellery Setting

The jewellery settings also have a significant impact on the diamond for their sparkling features. Like the different settings of diamonds with yellow gold or white gold will have a different impact on diamonds.

When we use yellow gold settings, the shade of the colour gold will make the diamond’s colour look a little dull, whereas when white gold is used, it can enhance the appearance of sparkle, as it has limitations; it only works with colourless, near colourless and white diamonds.

For a better understanding of the settings, we are taking ring settings as an example. There are different settings of rings, as we know, so in the prong settings or tension settings, the diamond will sparkle the most, whereas in the Bezel settings, the diamond sparkling will be a little less, as the setting blocks some lights. 

6. Diamond shape

Diamonds are cut in a wide range of Shapes, like oval, pear, marquise, etc. The round cut diamond can maximise the light interaction with the facets of a diamond. The ideal cut round diamond has 57 facets. This creates stunning brilliance and shows the maximum sparkle of any other shape of the diamond. 

Find the right Sparkling Diamonds:

The sparkly feature in a diamond is due to several factors, as listed above. If you want a diamond that maximises the sparkling feature, then make sure to choose a diamond with the perfect cut, colour, shape, and of course, taking into consideration the jewellery settings as well.