Natural vs. Synthetic Diamonds: Understanding the Differences

Question
QUESTION: what is the diffrence between synthetic, simulated, natural, and genuine diamonds? and any other terms i might be missing

ANSWER: That is an outstanding question.  Thank you for asking Mari.  Let's start with a natural diamond.  It formed in the ground, and man took it out and cut it.  That's simple.  

A synthetic diamond is really a diamond, but it is not natural in that it did not occur in nature.  It was grown in a laboratory.  It has all the physical and optical characteristics as a natural diamond and the same chemistry.  It is a diamond, but not a natural one.

A simulated diamond, or a simulant, just looks like a diamond.  A colorless sapphire that someone sets in an engagement ring would be considered a simulant if it is standing in for a diamond.  A cubic zirconia is also a diamond simulant.  The colorless sapphire is a natural simulant- it grew in the earth.  But the CZ is a synthetic simulant because it was grown in a lab.  It doesn't share diamond's chemistry or physical characteristics so we can't call it a synthetic diamond- it is a simulant.  It's merely posing as a diamond.

Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions that you might have!

Take care,

David Fortier, GG
Staff Gemologist
Tiptopgem.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: What are the gems that they are selling on these two sites? They use the word simulated and synthetic interchangeably. I don't know if they use CZ, or moissanite or synthetic diamonds, or some other new type of material. Are you able to tell?

http://www.diamondnexuslabs.com/

http://shopping.carat.cc/cgi-bin/carat/new_page.html

Answer
Both of these companies are infamous for their deceptive claims.  They are selling synthetic cubic zirconia.  It's plain old CZ.  Oh, by the way it is called synthetic because cubic zirconia does occur in nature contrary to many peoples' understanding.  It only occurs in extremely tiny crystals that are not commercially significant.  The laboratory version is thus called "synthetic cubic zirconia" but most people just call it CZ.

A CZ by any other name should be as cheap.