can you really tell a real diamond from
a fake one
in this video we're gonna run five tests
to show you how
keep in mind that some of these tests
might be inconclusive on their
own so it's always a good idea for you
to run multiple tests to determine if
your diamond is real or fake
number one the water test at three and a
half
times the density of water diamonds are
pretty dense minerals
this means if you drop one in water
it'll sink
when it comes to fake diamonds on the
other hand you may have heard that some
may
actually float or stay suspended in the
water
this is simply not true even quartz and
glass are denser than water
so a fake diamond made out of these will
sink too
when dealing with one of the most
popular diamond substitutes around
like the synthetic cubic zirconia or cz
it's actually heavier and denser than a
diamond so it'll sink even faster
let's see that again in slow motion
notice the difference
despite all of this it's really easy to
make a mistake
and obtain misleading results when
conducting the water test
so we recommend that you also run more
tests like the following
number two the scratch test diamonds are
not just dense
they're hard in fact they're the hardest
substance known to man
scoring a perfect 10 on the famous mohs
hardness scale
this simply means that a diamond will
scratch or cut another substance that's
not as hard as it like glass
even though it's a bit difficult to
press this one carat diamond firmly
against the champagne bottle
it scratches the bottle pretty easily
creating a deeper and deeper groove into
the glass the more we rub it up and down
the fake diamond also scratches the
glass surface
but not as easily as the diamond that's
because our cubic zirconia is
also harder than glass but what happens
when we try to scratch the diamond with
the cz
nothing not even a single scratch
now let's reverse the rolls and attempt
the same thing and see what happens
our poor diamond simulator is all
scratched up
it wasn't even a fair fight and you
probably guessed it by now
only a diamond can scratch another
diamond
number three newspaper test for this
test we won't need a newspaper
just an x or a dot on a piece of paper
diamonds refract or bend a portion of
the light that hits them
while glass and certain diamond
imitations like cubic zirconia
bend relatively less light this means
that when you place a diamond of decent
quality over text
it will refract light so intensely that
you really won't be able to make out
what you're reading at all
on the other hand doing the same thing
with a diamond stimulant like cz
will have a totally different effect
notice that the fake diamond is a lot
more transparent
that's because it doesn't refract light
as well as a diamond
do you notice the difference
number four the flame test
here's an interesting one think you
could burn a diamond
it takes nature billions of years to
make diamonds
93 miles below the earth's surface
that's where tiny gemstones experience
extreme pressures and scorching
temperatures
above 1000 degrees celsius but after
they're made
can these little suckers really take the
heat let's see
we're going to put a real diamond and a
fake one in the fire
and heat them up for 20 seconds before
rapidly cooling them in a glass of water
let's do the real diamond first oops
right away our diamond turned black from
the heat
did we damage it let's cool it down and
see
[Music]
by its outward appearance it seems that
our diamond suffered some damage
let's try to clean it up
wiping it with a little alcohol voila
no damage whatsoever now let's see how
our cubic zirconia reacts to the fire
while the diamond wasn't affected by the
rapid change in temperature
a fake diamond made out of glass quartz
or cubic zirconia will shatter
this is some real damage
check out the side by side comparison
anyone ready to put their diamond to the
test
number five conductivity test
moissanites are considered by many to be
the best fake diamonds around
and like diamonds they're very hard
scoring a 9.25 on the mohs scale
that's higher than any gemstone used in
jewelry besides diamonds
despite their similarities most natural
diamonds do not conduct electricity like
moisanites do so let's run this test
we'll need a connectivity tool like the
gemoro ultra tester three plus
a lot of jewelers and diamond buyers use
tools like this and you can easily find
one on amazon
we'll test our one carat diamond first
green it's a diamond and now for our
five carat moissanite
our conductivity tool detects it easily
and trust me you don't want to make a
mistake at a 5 carat level
a natural diamond of this size can be
tens to 100
times more expensive than a moissanite
which might translate into hundreds of
thousands of dollars
you owe it to yourself to be able to
tell them apart
here's a bonus treat we already know
that diamonds are the hardest substance
on the planet
but does that mean they can be struck
with a hammer and survive
breaking a good quality diamond of this
size can
easily make this a five thousand dollar
experiment
what
what just happened don't worry
i promise we just sacrificed a cubic
zirconia not a diamond
even though diamonds are the hardest
mineral on earth remember that the
hardness measures the ability to resist
scratching
not a blow from a hammer tenacity not
hardness is what measures a material's
resistance to blows
and in this respect diamonds are
considered brittle
so while steel won't scratch a diamond
it'll certainly shatter if struck at the
right angle
especially at the tip let us know what
you thought of our real vs fake tests
if there's another test you would like
to see let us know as well
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see you next time