2 replies to this topic

[SomewherenKs]

Hello,,
I am wondering if the ring I found is real or fake. A friend told me to do the following test..

This is for two people; Take a hair from your head(long hair), place the hair over the center of the diamond in question, take a lit cigerette and place it directly on top of hair/diamond. If the hair breaks or burns, your diamond is fake and if the hair does not break or burn, your diamond is real.

I did this test with my ring and the hair did not break. I then did this test to a known fake diamond and the hair broke. Crazy...right! Does this have anything to do with real diamonds being able to absorb the heat so hair does not break?

Thanks so much for your time....

[LaurieH]

There is a conductive test to tell authenticity of diamonds, but this I've never heard of. But it's that conduction that is the basis for the electronic diamond testers and whatnot. There's the age-old "glass test" but really, there are other things that will scratch glass, so I'm gonna suggest that you take it to a jeweler and have them have a look and use the tester. Pretty sure there's no one out there who'd charge for the service and then you'll know for sure. And it won't be stinky (burning hair--ick!).

[davidelevi]

It makes sense based on physics. Diamond is an excellent heat conductor, so the cigarette heat gets "carried away" through the diamond mass rather than burning the hair. However:

1. Not all diamond simulants are bad heat conductors. Moissanite has heat conductivity comparable to diamond, so the hair may not burn (and different people's hair can be 10x as thick as others, making calibration rather difficult).

2. Unless there is perfect contact between the hair and the stone, even a minimal layer of air or grease will impair conductivity and the hair may well burn.

So... useful as a party trick (if you like pulling hair out of your head), but not too much as a diagnostic.

Edited by davidelevi, 07 September 2011 - 01:14 PM.