Rainbow look of a stone

[Class n Sass]

What gives a stone that rainbow look to it? When you look at it in different ways sometimes you see a variety of colors and sometimes you don''t. Does it have to do with the lighting? Are you supposed to be able to always see that even indoors(ex:just walking around your house)? Also does it have to do with the color/clarity?

 

[justjulia]

I believe it has to do with the way a diamond is cut. A better cut diamond will refract (is that the right word?) better than a poorly cut one. Also, a better cut and clean diamond will do even better. The best lighting to bring out this effect is diffused, like under a shady tree, or at Home Depot, or a movie theater.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 2/12/2007 6:37:21 AM
Author:Class n Sass
What gives a stone that rainbow look to it? When you look at it in different ways sometimes you see a variety of colors and sometimes you don't. Does it have to do with the lighting? Are you supposed to be able to always see that even indoors(ex:just walking around your house)? Also does it have to do with the color/clarity?

It sounds like you are noticing the fire, or coloured light from a diamond. Fire is normally seen best in the right sort of lighting, some diamonds are cut to display fire ( known as a Firey Ideal Cut or FIC) Fire doesn't have anything to do with colour or clarity, any well cut diamond should show some fire to more or less of an extent. Soft candlelight if I remember rightly is one of the best lights to view fire.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 2/12/2007 6:37:21 AM
Author:Class n Sass
What gives a stone that rainbow look to it? When you look at it in different ways sometimes you see a variety of colors and sometimes you don''t. Does it have to do with the lighting? Are you supposed to be able to always see that even indoors(ex:just walking around your house)? Also does it have to do with the color/clarity?

I have been able to pull color from my stone in pretty much every light I''ve found... sometimes it is easier than others. clarity doesn''t have much if any noticible effect (though I imagine large feathers you can see with the naked eye would distort color that hit them) and the color of the diamond influences what you would see, but doesn''t directly affect it. Like if you shine a prism rainbow on a yellow wall - yellow might get canceled somewhat and blue might look a little greenish.... but the rainbow itself is what it is. Now, think about how very slightly tinted most diamonds are vs a yellow wall.... I have a J and the I get tons of real blues and purples, but I think there is a general warmth to the rainbows - not a yellow tint, just a hint of warmth.

 

[kenny]

Yes it has got to do with the lighting.
The smaller the light the more you will see those colors.

Also you will get a better light show with a diamond that is well cut.

 

[Lorelei]

Also you might find my friend Ellen''s thread useful and enjoyable to read!

The Fire Thread!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 2/12/2007 10:12:24 AM
Author: kenny
Yes it has got to do with the lighting.
The smaller the light the more you will see those colors.

Also you will get a better light show with a diamond that is well cut.

the smaller the light the more you will see those? not my experience... the hardest time I have getting fire is outside on a very grey rainy day and even then I get *some*. I got this one in a north facing window on an overcast day.

 

[kenny]

White light is the mixture of all colors.
A prism breaks light up into its component parts, violet, red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.
A diamond functions as a box of prisms.

If you were in a dark room with black floors, walls and ceiling wearing black clothing and there was one tiny halogen light in the ceiling you'd see vivid rainbows.
Add a second halogen light and you will see some more rainbows.
Another and you will see even more rainbows.

But at some point if you add too many light sources the light from one halogen will start mixing, blending and combining with the light from another.
The result of this mixing is you will no longer see the separated colors.
This is because it works both ways . . . white light can be broken up into colors, but colored lights can also be mixed to get white light.

Take three flashlights with colored glass over the front, one red, one green, and one blue.
Shine them all on one place and you will see white.

This is what's happening on a cloudy day inside your diamond.

We usually think of the sun as the only light source in the sky but it is not.
On a cloudy day. . . the light source is huge, the whole sky.
You can think of it as trillions and trillions of halogens forming a continuous dome over your head.
Zillions of light rays are all entering your diamond from all angles.

The white light is still being broken up by the diamond but the zillions of other light rays entering at zillions of slightly different angles blends with the others and mixes or cancels the color so instead of seeing the colors you see the mixed colors, or white light.

If you see rainbows or colors coming from your diamond, even on a cloudy day, something in the environment has to be brighter than the rest of the environment.

 

[Stone Hunter]

Brilliant direct sunlight, which we usually have alot of here in FL, won''t give the same light show that dappled shade does.

FOR OP --I see alot of Reflected colors in my stone when I''m inside. If I''m wearing a blue top my stone picks that up and throws it back to me. My house has alot of natural light. So yes you will see a prism or reflection inside your house if you have enough light and a well cut stone. Yes those are two different things but both provide the color you want to see.