{"id":1179,"date":"2020-03-03T09:10:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T09:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/?p=1179"},"modified":"2023-06-01T15:50:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T15:50:46","slug":"bite-sized-diamond-facts-diamond-sparkle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/bite-sized-diamond-facts-diamond-sparkle\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Diamonds Sparkle? Diamond Brilliance, Fire and Scintillation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-gives-a-diamond-its-sparkle\">What gives a diamond its sparkle?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The process of diamond cutting transforms a diamond and gives it sparkle. From an insignificant crystal in the ground, the true beauty of a diamond comes from the expertise of the diamond cutter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The diamond-cutting process reveals the true hidden beauty of a diamond. From the rough crystal to the final faceted gemstone, the final result changes the passage of light passing through the diamond. At the same time, light reflects from the stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this reason, diamonds provide the ultimate symbol of love. In fact, the diamond engagement ring has become the iconic symbol of love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A significant part of a diamond&#8217;s value results from the cutting process. The cut and proportions of a diamond can influence value by as much as 40 per cent. For this reason, great time and effort go into cutting a diamond to release not only beauty but its value at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people refer to fire, brilliance and scintillation. But few people understand the difference between each of these terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the following video, a round brilliant cut diamond sparkles with fire, brilliance and scintillation in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/uk\/product\/r1d078-unity-round-diamond-tension-twist-solitaire-engagement-ring\">tension setting of our Unity ring design<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n3zJ5iTplaY\" width=\"850\" height=\"472\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-light-refraction-and-reflection-in-diamonds\">Light refraction and reflection in diamonds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The passage of light through a diamond slows as it passes through the matrix of carbon crystal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Light bends as it passes from one medium to another\u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu\/hbase\/geoopt\/refr.html\">an effect referred to as&nbsp;<strong><em>refraction<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As this light travels through the diamond, it strikes another surface within the stone, and reflects white light back to the eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cut grades and brilliance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The proportions and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/uk\/education\/diamond-symmetry\">symmetry of a diamond<\/a> change the way light passes through a diamond. As a result, a well-proportioned diamond reflects most light back internally. Light passes back to the eye through the table facet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Modern round brilliant-cut diamonds feature 57 facets. They&#8217;re modern proportions guarantee brilliance in very good and excellent cut grades. But, historically, older cut diamonds featured deeper proportions and 58 facets with a culet. This allowed light to pass through the bottom of the diamond. As a result, reduced proportions resulted in less brilliance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result we refer to as <strong>brilliance<\/strong>. Conversely, a poorly proportioned diamond leaks light. As a result, poorly cut diamonds appear far less brilliant by comparison. Diamonds sparkle owing to the effect of brilliance with additional factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-diamond-fire\">What is diamond fire?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Light passing through a diamond bends. As visible light passes through a diamond, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dkfindout.com\/uk\/science\/light\/splitting-light\/\">it splits into different colours<\/a>. We see the same effect in water droplets when a rainbow forms. This same effect occurs when light passes through a prism resulting in a rainbow of coloured light. In diamonds, this effect appears as random bursts of colour\u2014most noticeable in bright sunlight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"850\" src=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Diamond-fire-spectrum-light.jpg\" alt=\"Diamond fire. Concept image of spectrum and rainbow light rays coming from a diamond.\" class=\"wp-image-20885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Diamond-fire-spectrum-light.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Diamond-fire-spectrum-light-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Diamond-fire-spectrum-light-250x250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Diamond-fire-spectrum-light-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Diamond-fire-spectrum-light-730x730.jpg 730w, https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Diamond-fire-spectrum-light-55x55.jpg 55w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This means that a beam of white&nbsp;light&nbsp;going into a diamond comes out as a spectrum of different colours. When we see the colours of the spectrum in a diamond, we call this <strong>fire.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some diamond cuts exhibit greater fire than others. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/baguette-cut-diamonds-vs-emerald-cut-diamonds\/\">Emerald-cut diamonds<\/a> give greater fire but less brilliance. In contrast, brilliant-cut diamonds demonstrate greater brilliance and less fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/diamond-sparkle.jpg\" alt=\"Diamond sparkle and diamond fire \" class=\"wp-image-16660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/diamond-sparkle.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/diamond-sparkle-266x300.jpg 266w, https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/diamond-sparkle-768x867.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A diamond splits white light into colours of the spectrum, referred to as &#8216;fire.&#8217;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-scintillation\">What is scintillation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The effect of light and movement creates scintillation.&nbsp;Scintillation is the play of white and coloured flashes of light seen when the diamond is viewed in motion.&nbsp; Viewable with the naked eye, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americangemsociety.org\/page\/sciencescintillation\">scintillation is the life of the diamond<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We divide scintillation into flash scintillation and fire scintillation. Flash scintillation comes from bright flashes of light dancing across the polished facets of a diamond. When this effect throws flashes of colour, we refer to this as fire scintillation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The quality of a diamond&#8217;s polish results adds or subtracts from the scintillation. An excellent polish assists in the reflection of light from each facet of the diamond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-effect-of-fire-brilliance-and-scintillation-on-a-diamond\">The effect of fire, brilliance and scintillation on a diamond<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The combined effect of fire, brilliance and scintillation gives a diamond life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Together, the beauty of a diamond comes from the &#8220;across-the-room-sparkle.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few gemstones have this overall effect. We should remember that without light, diamonds have no brilliance, fire or scintillation. Light brings a diamond to life with an effect that few gemstones achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-keep-the-sparkle-of-your-diamond\">How to keep the sparkle of your diamond<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The attraction of grease and dirt to a diamond causes the loss of diamond sparkle. The build-up of hand creams and oils on the back of a diamond ring causes significant loss of sparkle. Remember to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/uk\/product\/connoisseurs-diamond-dazzle-stik\">clean your diamond regularly using the Dazzlestik to restore sparkle<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Diamond Fire &#038; SparkleBreathing Life into a Diamond<\/p>\n<p>For today&#8217;s blog we are going to keep things short. We are going to discuss what is probably one of the most important effects resulting from cutting and polishing a diamond. An important characteristic of diamonds that will always capture attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[172,173],"class_list":["post-1179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diamonds-2","tag-diamond-fire","tag-diamond-sparkle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1179"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20887,"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions\/20887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.serendipitydiamonds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}