Where does colour in DIAMONDS come from?

What are Coloured Diamonds?

Coloured diamonds come in all different colours with as many hues and intensities as nature can muster. It is not only the trace minerals that determine gem colour, but also the dissimilarity in the amount of pressure to produce the coloured diamonds. At times the radiation level in the Earth’s mantle layer can also influence gemstone colours.

Let’s understand the Chemistry behind different Colours in Gemstones.

Orange and Yellow Diamonds

While a diamond is formed the nitrogen atoms are arranged in a way where blue light is absorbed, exhibiting a “ fancy yellow colour”. Because of the specific grouping of nitrogen atoms, it is also responsible for the shading of “orange diamonds” in such a way where it will absorb light in both the blue and yellow spectrums.

Violet and Purple Diamonds

These are considered hydrogen-rich grey to blue to violet and are very uncommon especially in high colour strength.

Blue and Gray Diamonds

Fancy blue diamonds are caused by “Boron”, a rare element in the Earth’s crust. Many adopt a grey secondary tone, making natural blue diamonds with exceptional saturation and brilliance extremely rare.

Pink, Red and Brown Diamonds

These colours are caused due to intense pressure and heat. While some are buried deep within the earth, these factors cause crystal distortions in the crystal lattice that absorb green light, thus reflecting a pink hue. Having the same cause of colour, rare red diamonds are just deeply coloured pink diamonds.

Green Diamonds

As diamonds are about to leave the uppermost layer of the crust, they absorb naturally occurring radiation which causes these gemstones to reflect a green hue by absorbing red and yellow light.

White Diamonds

Everyone thinks these white diamond gems are the same as colourless, but their opacity and translucency separate them categorically. White diamond gems get their gem colour from the presence of sub-microscopic inclusions and are special in the way they exhibit opalescence flawless fluorescence colour. The white diamond gem can adapt to the gem colours of nearby gemstones.