Diamond CAS NO.7782-40-3

Color  

While many diamonds appear colorless, or white, they may actually have subtle yellow or brown tones that can be detected when comparing diamonds side by side. Colorless diamonds are the rarest and most valuable of all. Color variations are a result of the natural forces (i.e., temperature, pressure, trace elements) at work during the formation of diamonds within the Earth. Because subtle color variations dramatically affect the value of a diamond, a color grading scale is used to categorize the shading differences from one diamond to the next.

Carat

Diamonds are measured in terms of weight, not size. The heavier the diamond, the greater the carat weight. Two diamonds of equal weight can have very different values, because the quality is still determined by the color, clarity and cut.  As diamonds increase in size, their cost tends to increase exponentially rather than arithmetically. Thus, a one-carat diamond can cost significantly more than a one-half carat diamond of equal quality.  The weight of a diamond less than one carat in size may also be described in terms of "points".  There are 100 "points" in 1 carat.