Looking at your diamond in direct sunlight will allow the diamond to exhibit good fire, however any intrusion or diffusion of this light source (such as cloud cover) will drastically reduce the appearance of fire. Singular sources of direct light in a small angular size are the most efficient at producing fire and large light sources are the least efficient. Not all lighting environments will release fire within the stone. In order to observe fire within a diamond, the diamond must be lit under proper lighting conditions. There is a narrow range of basic proportions that will result in fire being generated within a diamond. Ray tracing allows to calculate the location of dispersion of the light that is being returned to the eye. Ray tracing involves directing a laser through a diamond and following the beam of light as it travels through the diamond and out the other side. The amount and exact location of light dispersion within a diamond can be assessed using a technique called ray tracing. That is why fire is such an important feature in your diamond. Like a rainbow after a storm, fire within a diamond seems to be an impossible miracle of nature, when it is in fact the result of deliberate precision in the cutting process. This spectrum of rainbow light is intrinsically linked with our perceptions of something special something almost magical. As a diamond has such a high RI, it possesses the ability to display an intense fire, however this potential can only be reached with a high-quality diamond that has well cut.įire brings depth to a diamond and is what gives a diamond a its ‘hypnotic’ optical properties. The higher the refractive index, the greater the potential for light dispersion. A diamond has a refractive index (RI) of 2.42, where as an Emerald has a refractive index of 1.58. A material that is highly efficient at slowing and refracting the light is described as having a high refractive index.

The more the light is slowed, the greater the material’s ability to refract the light. White light travels at 186,000 miles per second through air until it enters a transparent material such as water or a diamond and is slowed down. It is this phenomenon that allows us to see a rainbow in the sky, the rainbow of colors refracted from a prism, and, of course, fire from a diamond. The different wave lengths are refracted at different rates this causes them to become separated (dispersed). When the light exits the transparent material back into open air, its speeds up again. This slowing causes the light to bend (refract). This is because when the light enters one of these transparent forms, the speed which it is travelling at is slowed down significantly. This rainbow of colors can be seen when the white light waves enters a transparent substance such as glass, water or a diamond. White light is comprised of multiple wavelengths, with each of these presenting and corresponding to a specific color. Visible light is part of a spectrum made up of electromagnetic energy. By contrast, a high-quality diamond will present an intense fire but display an equal level of brilliance to give a clear, bright white sparkle. The result is that a moissanite stone can have a ‘disco-ball’ appearance, with an abundance of rainbow light that is not balanced with white light. When offering guidance on distinguishing a diamond from Moissanite, it is often recommended that the viewer focus on the fire on the stone.Īs you can see from this image, moissanite has a greater fire dispersion than a diamond, but a lower brilliance. Diamonds and Moissanite have very similar properties and it can be difficult for the untrained eye to tell them apart. In the most basic terms, brilliance is the brightness of light and scintillation (white light), whereas fire is the dispersion of white light into rainbow colours through refraction (rainbow light).Ī good way of grasping the basics of diamond fire is to compare a real diamond to moissanite (a synthetic gemstone sometimes used a diamond-substitute). Although ultimately concerned with the same optical aspect of a diamond, brilliance and fire are not interchangeable. If you are in the market for a diamond, it is likely you will have heard a myriad of technical terms being thrown out there, and close to the top of the list will be diamond fire.ĭiamond fire is an optical attribute which, along with diamond brilliance, indicates the sparkle of a diamond. Best Places to Buy an Engagement Ring Online.Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool – ASET.Flawless vs Internally Flawless Diamonds.

Fire and brilliance mossanite