Real Diamond Formation

• The formation of a diamond takes place naturally around 100 miles beneath the Earth's surface. A combination of intense heat and pressure results in carbon from the mantle of the Earth being compressed into diamond form. After the formation of the diamond, the natural shifts in the Earth's crust slowly move the rock in its raw form towards the surface. Eventually, the rock reaches a point that is close enough to the surface to be discovered through human mining techniques.
  
  

Synthetic Diamond Formation

• Synthetic diamonds are grown in a lab using real diamonds as a sort of seed. The seeds are exposed to gases at very high temperatures. Then, carbon particles are introduced into the process and begin to bond to the carbon on the tiny original diamond. The atoms begin to stack on top of each other one by one until a larger diamond is formed. The artificial diamond is removed and the seed diamond can be reused.
  
  

Gem Use

• Diamonds are primarily used as a gemstone in jewelry and for other decorative purposes. For these uses, real diamonds remain the standard in the industry. People prefer real diamonds for their rarity and the status associated with them. However, people who are not trained gemologists would have a difficult time telling the difference between a high-quality synthetic and a real diamond. The primary difference is that real diamonds and synthetic products have different types of flaws. Real diamonds have natural material often included in the stone, while synthetics may have a slight orange fluorescence.
  
  

Industrial Uses

• Diamonds are used in a number of industrial applications, such as the creation of highly specialized cutting tools used in construction and manufacturing. Surgical lasers are also created using diamonds. The practical applications of diamonds have largely been filled using synthetics. Some 90 percent of the diamonds in use in industry are created synthetically in a lab. In the future, it seems probable that synthetic diamonds will become used more commonly as powerful semiconductors in electronics.