Difference between Diamonds and Cubic Zirconia (CZ)

Everyone must be quite aware about the use of diamond and cubic zirconia in jewelries. Every woman, all over the world, admires these wonderful gems. A diamond is often described as a woman's best friend. What can be a better option, other than giving her a diamond studded jewelry to convince her how much you care for her. Cubic zirconia are man-made gems that closely resemble the properties of diamonds. To a layman, diamonds and cubic zirconia look quite similar. However, professional gemologists can differentiate them easily. Let's take a look at the difference between diamonds and cubic zirconia.

Difference between Diamonds and Cubic Zirconia (CZ)

Component Material: Diamonds are an allotrope (structurally different forms of the same element) of carbon. To be more precise, diamonds are made up of carbon atoms that are arranged in a specific manner. Though they are found naturally (in mines), man-made diamonds are also available. Cultured diamonds are a type of synthetic diamonds that are produced under extremely high temperature and pressure conditions.

The constituent material of cubic zirconia is totally different from that of diamonds. Cubic zirconia, as the name suggests, is made from zirconium dioxide and is in the form of cubic crystalline.

Hardness: Diamonds, whether natural or man-made, are the hardest substance found on the Earth. According to Moh's scale of mineral hardness, diamonds are rated 10 with their absolute hardness value being 1600.

The hardness of cubic zirconia according to Moh's scale is between 8.5, with the absolute hardness value between 200 to 400. It is stated that diamonds are about 500 times harder than cubic zirconia.

Shape and Color: Natural diamonds are always associated with some irregularities in the structure, as well as impurities, which impart color. A pure natural diamond is colorless and found rarely. In comparison to this, synthetic diamonds are flawless, rather structural imperfections are imparted in order to simulate natural diamonds. Synthesizing colored diamonds are far cheaper than producing colorless diamonds, as colored diamonds take less time to grow.

In case of cubic zirconia, structural perfections can be made during the manufacturing process. It can be made colorless, so that it is similar to pure diamonds. Cubic zirconia with varied colors are also available in the market.

Weight: Diamonds are light-weight as compared to cubic zirconia. The weight of cubic zirconia is about 1.75 times than that of diamonds. To understand better, let's take an example of a one-carat diamond; cubic zirconia of the same size will weigh 1.75 carats.

Brightness: Diamonds are more bright in comparison to cubic zirconia. It is due to the fact that the refractive index of diamond is 2.41, whereas that of cubic zirconia is 2.17. Cubic zirconia is also shown to have more flashes of color, as its dispersive power (0.060) is higher than that of diamonds (0.044).

Diamonds also differ from cubic zirconias in the cleavage property; diamonds have cleavage planes and are found to be more brittle in particular orientations. These are some of the notable differences between diamonds and thermal zirconias. Knowing these intricate differences will certainly help you in identifying these precious gems.