Diamonds have been adopted for many uses because of the material's exceptional physical characteristics.
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14 Facts About Diamonds
2.
Diamonds occur most often as euhedral or rounded octahedra and twinned octahedra known as macles.
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3.
Diamonds are commonly found coated in nyf, an opaque gum-like skin.
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4.
Diamonds are naturally lipophilic and hydrophobic, which means the diamonds' surface cannot be wet by water, but can be easily wet and stuck by oil.
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5.
Diamonds can be identified by their high thermal conductivity.
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6.
Diamonds cut glass, but this does not positively identify a diamond because other materials, such as quartz, lie above glass on the Mohs scale and can cut it.
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7.
Diamonds possess an extremely high refractive index and fairly high dispersion.
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8.
Diamonds are extremely rare, with concentrations of at most parts per billion in source rock.
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9.
Diamonds are dated by analyzing inclusions using the decay of radioactive isotopes.
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10.
Diamonds prepared as gemstones are sold on diamond exchanges called bourses.
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11.
Diamonds are extremely hard, but brittle and can be split up by a single blow.
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13.
Diamonds have been known in India for at least 3,000years but most likely 6,000years.
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14.
Diamonds have been treasured as gemstones since their use as religious icons in ancient India.
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