These days, we have several affordable alternatives available for diamonds. They have similar bling, and often it is hard to tell them apart from the precious stone. One such jewel is the cubic zirconia. However, there are several tell-tale signs to differentiate it from a real diamond. Colour, hardness, and clarity are a few of the factors which will quickly help to tell apart cubic zirconia and diamond. Read on to find out the various differentiating factors and always make the most of your hard-earned money.
What is cubic zirconia?
Cubic Zirconia is a man-made gemstone. It comes from an artificial mineral called zirconium dioxide. They look very similar to diamonds but have different mineral structures. Cubic zirconia is also formed naturally but is rare. The majority of the gemstone used in the jewellery industry are made in the lab much like lab-grown diamonds. But they have a different mineral composition than synthetic diamonds too.
Basic differences between cubic zirconia and diamond
Here are a few basic factors to help you differentiate between cubic zirconia and diamond when you are buying women’s yellow gold wedding rings.
Brightness and beauty
The cut of the diamond is the most crucial factor that affects its beauty and brilliance. The cut impacts the light reflections and how it will impact your eyes. Diamond can have white light reflection or colour- known as brilliance and fire respectively.
Cubic zirconia has no such brilliance and its light refractive index is much lower between 2.14-2.18 whereas it is 2.42 for diamonds. The dispersion rate of cubic zirconia is higher than diamonds. As a result, it reflects too much-coloured light, which makes it easier to spot a fake diamond.
The easiest way to tell them apart is to hold the diamond and cubic zirconia upside-down. The cubic zirconia would have orange and blue reflections on the underside but the diamond will form a full spectrum of the seven colours.
Density and durability
This is the next most distinguishing factor about a gemstone. Diamonds are naturally the hardest material on earth and have a perfect 10 score on the Mohs scale. On the other hand, cubic zirconia has an 8.5 rating on the Mohs scale. As a result, over the years the cubic zirconia jewellery becomes cloudy and scratched. You can clean it to bring back the original brilliance. Diamond is much harder and hence used to create jewellery like weddings and engagement rings which are meant to stay as good as new for generations.
Colour and clarity
As cubic zirconia is developed in the lab, there is no natural inclusions or imperfection of the stone like organic diamonds. There are flawless diamonds but they are extremely rare and expensive. Though cubic zirconia is colourless as they are made that way, you will find an orange-tinted reflection. That is the obvious indicator that cubic zirconia is not the same as diamonds.
You can find a variety of gemstones and jewels from Hatton Garden jewellers. They can also test and tell whether your diamonds are real or not. But if you observe closely and check the above-mentioned factors, you can easily determine whether you have a diamond or a cubic zirconia in your collection.