Diamonds under the water.

[Tobamovirus]

How does dipping a diamond into the water affects its performance?

I've noticed that my diamond looks brighter, the facet structure becacmes much more clear, contrast and visible, and the stone is full of fire that I've never seen in real life.

Brief googling prooved, that usually diamonds are tend to look less pretty when dipped into the water.
Also I know, that the cut of my stone is not ideal.

Just curios, how and why the water "cures" this diamond, what flaws of cutting are compensated this way?

 

[lambskin]

Perhaps the water acts as a magnifyer so the cut looks more pronounced. Can't account for the other phenonms. Just guessing.

 

[telephone89]

Water refracts light differently than air, so I could definitely see that it would affect how the diamond looks.

 

[Tobamovirus]

Yes, I understand that, but just wondering why the thing that usually mutes the sparkles, on the contrary makes my stone look better

What can you say about your experience with diamonds and water?

 

[kenny]

I swim laps and love seeing my Octavia sparkle under water when my head is above water.

From Wiki (with me editing to add the word diamond):
Light changes speed as it moves from one medium to another (for example, from air into diamond).
This speed change causes the light to be refracted and to enter the diamond at a different angle (Huygens principle).
The degree of bending of the light's path depends on the angle that the incident beam of light makes with the surface, and on the ratio between the refractive indices of the two media (Snell's law).
The refractive index of many materials (such as diamond) varies with the wavelength or color of the light used, a phenomenon known as dispersion.
This causes light of different colors to be refracted differently and to leave the prism at different angles, creating an effect similar to a rainbow.


If you change one of the media from air to water (which have different Indexes of Refraction) the change of angle will change so it seems reasonable to me that the light performance would change.

My diamond does seem more sparkly under water, but even Wiki's explanation does not help me actually understand why.