Pepper inclusions in diamond

[pyramid]

Can anyone say what the pepper inclusions sometimes seen in a diamond are? Are they the same as carbon spots or smaller? Are they called pinpoints or do pinpoints have to be white? Are they crystals of what?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

They are exactly like salt inclusions only black Pyramid.

If they are any closer than 3.0065 microns to each other the diamond is likely to explode in a nuclear fusion melt down on the second full moon in a leap year.

 

[pyramid]

Okay so they are crystals. Do they usually surround other inclusions in the stone or do they just appear in random places.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Depends P, it depends - on how God felt, sometimes he throws pepper about, other times salt. Rarely does one inclusion know what the others were doing at the time of crystallization, but the conditions at the time mean that more of the same type are likely to form.

Get enough of that pepper and BOOM

But even though you are paraoniod about such details Pyramid, the inclusions can be very beautiful under high mag

 

[pyramid]

Thanks Cut Nut.

 

[valeria101]

 

[valeria101]

 

[pyramid]

CutNut wrote: Get enough of that pepper and BOOM


Garry H does more pepper inclusions together have an effect upon the diamond apart from appearance wise or are you only just joking here?

 

[Capitol Bill]

pyramid,
Looks like you caught Garry at the end of a long day. But I thank him for the good chuckle this morning. Rest assured, the diamond with "pepper" inclusions is nonexplosive and safe to wear. Just try to avoid diamonds with dynamitine lustre

.
Bill

 

[pyramid]

Thanks CapitoLBill. This is an old post not what Garry wrote today.

Does anyone know if the pictures Valeria101 posted are magnification of just one black pinpoint or a larger cluster or a single crystal?

 

[Capitol Bill]

Doh! That''s the second time I''ve responded to an old thread that''s been bumped. Gotta remember to look for those dates!

To attempt to answer your question, pyramid -- Ana''s images appear to be very colorful photomicrographs that were taken under extremely high power. They also sort of resemble something I''d see in a modern art gallery and wince at because I can''t "appreciate" modern art

. If I were to guess, I would entitle the first masterpiece "polish lines with a surface reaching (dark) crystal in lower left quadrant." The second image would be entitled "included dark crystal tossing baby crystal in the air." Or they could be photomicrographs of what my table looks like after lunch

.
Bill

 

[pyramid]

The second one looks like a pier to me on the left so I would name it jetty to the dark unknown.

 

[pyramid]

Does anyone know where to find more of these coloured pictures?

 

[MerKaBa]

Looks like Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) images my friend used to take in college. It is a very thin slice of a mineral sample blown up thousands of times. Minerals create some interesting patterns. Especially mixtures of minerals.

Run a seach for SEM and crystals or minerals.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

They are thin slides of rocks viewed thru a microscope with crossed polars (polaroid).

here are some google images
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-20,GGLG:en&q=crossed+polars

Have fun.

Actually Pyramid you would love to do this:

1. get old or cheap pair polaroid sun glasses.
2. break and take the 2 lenses
3. note when you hold them 90 degrees to each other and look thru the world goes dark
4. tape one to your loupe and the other X''ed to a light source
5. Examine your gem with the crossed poalroid light (cut out as much other light as you can for max brightness

and have fun
Try bending a plastic ruler and see the stress patterns

 

[pyramid]

Thank you MerKaBa and Garry H.

I will have to try that thing with the ruler and with the sunglasses.

I do like those google pictures

 

[pyramid]

Date: 6/14/2005 8:01:05 AM
Author: pyramid
CutNut wrote: Get enough of that pepper and BOOM


Garry H does more pepper inclusions together have an effect upon the diamond apart from appearance wise or are you only just joking here?

What I am asking is would a cluster of pepper inclusions together be worse than say 3 pepper inclusions?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

10 pieces of Black Pepper close together are nothing compared to a peice of Red Chilli Pepper like this one Pyramid.

This can really hurt.
You should never get a diamond like this close to a babies mouth. Just in case it blows

 

[pyramid]

 

[pyramid]

Garry H


It was supposed to be a serious question but then I know that you think inclusions do not affect the durability of diamond.

 

[Mara]

haha Pyramid, I have missed you and your technical obscure questions!!! is it my imagination or were you gone/lurking for a while?

 

[pyramid]

Hi Mara

. Yes I have been lurking for a while and had promised myself not to come to these boards too much until I am ready to buy but I just cannot seem to stay away

 

[pyramid]

Date: 6/16/2005 9:13:53 AM
Author: pyramid
Garry H


It was supposed to be a serious question but then I know that you think inclusions do not affect the durability of diamond.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Type II diamonds have the best cleavage and tend to have the least inclusions.

 

[Nicrez]

Morning Gary! Thanks for the usual laugh...


Hey Pyramid, wrap your head around this article, you may like it.

Following up on Gary's thread. I read an interesting article on Impurities and Type I and Type II diamonds by two very notable scientists. It was in the Smithsonian/NASA site below. Here's the abstract: (Enjoy!)

Natural diamonds have been thinned sufficiently by oxidation at 750 ^circC in oxygen or at 1350 ^circC in carbon dioxide for examination by transmission electron microscopy. Type I and type II diamonds as classified by infra-red and ultra-violet absorption measurements have been investigated and a difference in the nature of the imperfections in the two types has been found. Impurity platelets are present on {100} planes in type I diamonds and the relevant impurity has been identified as most probably nitrogen, since the density of platelets can be explained only by the high concentrations of nitrogen found in such diamonds by other workers. The presence of the nitrogen in platelet form can explain anomalous X-ray spikes reported around the normal Laue spots and also the fact that the nitrogen has been found to be present in a non-paramagnetic form. Small dislocation loops have been revealed on {111} planes near the nitrogen platelets and have been attributed to the condensation of vacancies following the formation of the platelets. Both these types of imperfection are absent in type II diamonds. Defects common to both types are dislocations and also long narrow dislocation dipoles which are considered to be formed by the movement of screw dislocations containing long jogs through the crystal at high temperatures. It is suggested that type II diamonds may have grown in nitrogen-free conditions at temperatures similar to those required for type I diamonds and have cooled slowly or they may have grown at lower temperatures than type I diamonds.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1962RSPSA.270..538E&db_key=GEN

 

[pyramid]

Wow thanks Garry and Nicrez. So how does one go about buying a type II diamond, I suppose we just look for more included diamonds. Can an appraiser tell if the diamond is type I or type II when a diamond is being examined by them?

 

[Capitol Bill]

Wow thanks Garry and Nicrez. So how does one go about buying a type II diamond, I suppose we just look for more included diamonds. Can an appraiser tell if the diamond is type I or type II when a diamond is being examined by them?

That''s easy, Pyramid. If you want a type II diamond, just buy an HPHT treated stone or buy a lab created diamond. Or if you really want to splurge for a type IIb, here''s one you can check out:

http://www.mnh.si.edu/museum/VirtualTour/Tour/Second/Hope/index.html

And here''s an interesting article on a basic method of type I / type II identification:

http://www.professionaljeweler.com/archives/articles/2003/nov03/1103dg.html

Bill

 

[pyramid]

Thanks CapitolBill

I only like natural diamonds and don''t like coloured diamonds (which I am relieved about). Interesting though that it states in the article that blue flourescence is one way of telling the diamond is natural.

Now, maybe if I could afford the Hope Diamond I would start to like coloured diamonds but then it has bad luck associated with it. I am not overly superstitious but I don''t think I could live with that one.