What Gemstones Will Register On A Diamond Tester

Gemstone Testers

Wouldn't it be wonderful if at that place were a simple to apply and inexpensive motorcar that anyone could employ to reliably identify gemstones? One that could distinguish real gems from synthetics and tell you lot whether your green stone is an emerald, a peridot, a demantoid garnet or just a slice of glass. It would be especially nice if the machine could tell you whether the rock had been rut treated or irradiated. Of course, such a car should be able to this without dissentious the gemstone in any way.

Diamond Tester

Unfortunately such a machine doesn't all the same exist, and perhaps it never will. Merely at that place accept been interesting attempts to develop i. There are at present some useful devices on the market, though not yet 1 that tin replace the judgement of a trained gemologist using traditional tools.

The best attempt so far to pattern such a device is a diamond tester, which was first used to distinguish diamond from cubic zirconia. Newer versions of these testers can also identify synthetic moissanite.

Since these testers piece of work reasonably well on diamonds, there have been attempts to utilise the same applied science to colored gemstones. They are somewhat useful, but have limitations. Nonetheless, they are starting to be adopted in the merchandise.

Duo Gemstone Tester

These devices work by testing for thermal conductivity of the material. Diamond is an unusual fabric, because it has an specially high thermal conductivity. In fact it conducts heat five times better than the next best oestrus conductor, silverish. That'south the reason behind one of the oldest tests for diamond. If you take a diamond at room temperature and touch it against your upper lip, information technology volition feel icy cold. That'due south because the diamond is conducting heat away from your body.

Cubic zirconia has a much lower level of thermal conductivity than diamond, so it was relatively easy to develop a tester to tell them autonomously. But when moissanite first came on the market, it fooled all the thermal conductivity testers, since moissanite also conducts estrus very well. A dissimilar test for electric conductivity had to exist incorporated into a new generation of diamond testers.

In the world of colored gemstones, electric current testers on the market place can distinguish sapphire from tanzanite, iolite, spinel, citrine, topaz and tourmaline; and distinguish ruby from spinel and garnet. They can also separate emerald from jadeite and garnet; and distinguish topaz from aquamarine, amethyst and citrine. They tin reliably tell y'all if your putative gemstone is glass, even if they tin can't always tell you lot what kind of gemstone it is. To date, no electronic tester even attempts to diagnose gem treatments. Gemologists have no reason yet to fear for their jobs.