Diamond is April’s Birthstone and the gem that marks the 60th and 75th wedding anniversaries. It is 10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale, the hardest mineral on earth, making it the best gemstone for jewelry, especially rings. It’s no wonder Diamond has been promoted as being “forever”.
Diamond forms under high temperature and presure conditions that exist only within a specific depth range (about 100 miles) beneath the earth’s surface. Diamond’s crystal structure is isometric, which means the carbon atoms are bonded in essentially the same way in all directions. Another mineral, graphite, also contains only carbon, but its formation process and crystal structure are very different. The result is that graphite is so soft that you can write with it, while diamond is so hard that you can only scratch it with another diamond.