There is a widespread belief that if a diamond is immersed in water, it will become invisible. This statement is partly true, but it primarily refers to diamonds, not diamonds.
Diamonds and Diamonds
Diamonds are cut diamonds. Unlike the latter, diamonds are stones of the correct shape and cut. It should be noted that initially a diamond was generally called a type of cut that was applied only to diamonds. Over time, this cut changed, at the very beginning the diamond had only five or six facets, and now the classic diamond has exactly fifty-seven of these facets. This is due to the fact that with such a cut, each facet reflects light in a special way, creating the appearance of a luminous ball inside the stone, giving it an unusual shine.
The rarest are blue, red and pink diamonds.
Very often, real diamonds are called pure gemstones. This is due to the fact that in the old days, when there was no technique to determine the authenticity and quality of the cut of a stone, it was immersed in water. If he became invisible, this indicated that the diamond was real. In fact, things are a little more complicated.
Physics versus myths
Until now, many researchers argue about what exactly happens to a diamond when it gets into water. It is known that every transparent object has a so-called refractive index, which can interact with the environment in different ways. For example, a transparent glass or diamond in the open air will be perfectly visible, since the refractive index of ordinary air and the refractive indices of glass or stone are quite different from each other.
Until the eighteenth century, diamonds were mined only in India.
If you put a glass in water with the same refractive index, it literally disappears, merges with the water together. It is quite easy to find glass and water with the same refractive indices, especially since glass can be different. For a diamond, this characteristic is unchanged and constant, and it differs from the standard refractive index of pure water. Therefore, the diamond does not disappear completely in it, but it becomes much less noticeable.
But even this does not apply to all diamonds, if the stone is even slightly colored, it will be much more noticeable in water. The color of the stone is influenced by impurities of elements other than carbon. A colored diamond is significantly inferior to an uncolored one in transparency. A diamond with an uneven, “natural” texture is very noticeable in water, regardless of the degree of color.
