• Question: Can diamonds be artificially coloured?

    Asked by to Simon on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Simon Redfern

      Simon Redfern answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      yes they can, but only by putting impurities into them by firing atoms at their surface. It is possible to grow synthetic diamonds and control their colour by additives. In natural diamonds we often see a yellow appearance, due to the substitution of small numbers of nitrogen atoms for the carbon atoms of the diamond structure.

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