We just completed this Custom “Butterfly” Ring for one of our Customers.
The ring is 18 carat white gold containing a center diamond of .70 carat, F color, VS-2 clarity, Ideal Cut graded by GIA. The side diamonds are .56 carat total weight of G Color, VS Clarity.
Scientists have known for a long time that Diamonds slip and slide with remarkable low friction and as such are excellent material and used for the coating of seals, in high-performance tools, and high-tech moving parts.
The question is why and how?
University of Pennsylvania scientists and researchers from Argonne National Laboratories devised a series of experiments using the latest highly specialized technique know as photoelectron emission microscopy, or PEEM. The results of these experiments are fascinating.
More details are here: Slippery Diamonds!
In today’s tough economic climate, the high cost of getting married is putting a big strain on couples’ budgets. What to do?
Here are some timely and excellent tips: Getting Married On A Budget
The instrumental “Tequila” is still very popular today and was originally introduced back in 1958 by the Band Champs .
Now comes the news that scientists have discovered a new method to manufacture a type of synthetic diamond from Tequila!
The Times of India reports that Researchers at the University of Nueva Leon near Monterrey in Mexico found that when the Mexican spirit is heated under pressure, it produces diamond structures, which are able to conduct electricity. The crystals, used to make diamond film, have previously been made from a number of different chemicals, often including nitrogen.
However, this experimental attempt is believed to be the first time that researchers have proven that any type of alcohol can be used to produce synthetic diamond.
Diamond film is tougher than silicon, so it could be useful for devices that must operate at high temperatures or under other harsh conditions.
However, diamond films are expensive and difficult to make. Now, researchers from Mexico have shown that the crystals can be created by heating the country’s national drink.
For the experiment, the researchers heated 80% proof ‘tequila blanco’, which has a short aging process and is bottled soon after distillation, in a low-pressure chamber. The drink formed into crystals which tests later confirmed had a diamond structure and were able to conduct electricity.
Imagine: Some years from now you diamond engagement ring may be Tequila derived.
Now that’s something good to which we can drink a toast!
L’Chaim!!
Remember when we were in grade school and Teacher asked us to hand in our homework and the class wise-guy responded by saying that “My dog ate my homework”.
Well, The China Daily reports that a woman spoiled her boyfriends engagement proposal by eating her engagement ring.
The man surnamed Chen, a policeman from Fujian province, had hidden the diamond engagement ring inside a cake.
His girlfriend however, had no idea about it, and ended up swallowing the rock when she took a bite .
To make matters worse, she then fainted and had to be rushed to the hospital. The doctors were able to extract the ring. The woman has now accepted her beau’s proposal and is happily planning her wedding.
Bon appetit
The Daily Telegraph reports that The Church of England’s first homosexual wedding which recently took place under Church auspices with full traditional liturgy, rings, and wedding vows may result in the world wide break up of the Anglican Church.
More here: Church In Turmoil
Insuring your Diamond Engagement Ring does not necessarily mean that you have to buy a whole new insurance policy. Most Insurance companies provide addendums to existing policies called ‘floaters’.
More information here: Insuring Your Ring
Erika Heller is 30 years old.
Erika Heller has cancer.
Erika Heller is getting married.
Her story: He Says: Marry Me!
California makes history this Tuesday June 17th when they become the second State to legalize same sex marriages.
Scientists have traced the origin of the unique platinum deposits in a South African region by using diamonds.
The worlds richest source of platinum and related metals is in South Africa known as the Bushveld Complex.
Researchers from the Carnegie Institution in the US and the University of Cape Town in South Africa have traced the origin of the unique ore deposits by using diamonds.
Platinum group elements (PGEs), which include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium and iridium, are extremely rare in the Earths crust.
Previous isotopic studies of rocks from the Bushveld Complex had suggested that a significant fraction of the magma that formed the complex and deposited the ores came from shallow parts of the crust, despite the rarity of PGEs there compared to the Earths mantle.
Shirey and Stephen H. Richardson of the University of Cape Town studied minute mineral inclusions in about 20 diamonds mined from areas surrounding the Bushveld Complex.
These diamonds formed at depths of 150-200 kilometers within the Earths mantle.
By measuring the ratios of certain isotopes of strontium, osmium, and neodymium in the mineral inclusions, the researchers were able to determine the isotopic signatures of the different regions of the mantle where the diamonds grew.
They then compared these signatures with those of ore rocks in the Bushveld Complex.
Richardson and Shirey found that the isotopic signatures of the ores could be matched by varying mixtures of source rocks in the mantle beneath the continental crust.
