How to identify black diamonds at home | carbonado

Identifying black diamonds, also known as carbonado, at home can be challenging without professional tools. However, here are a few steps and characteristics to help you determine if a stone is a black diamond:

1. *Visual Inspection:*
**Color**: Black diamonds are uniformly black, with no color zoning. They might have a metallic luster and are often opaque.
**Surface Texture**: They often have a rough, pitted surface. Natural black diamonds can appear less shiny than treated black diamonds.

2. *Hardness Test:*
Black diamonds are extremely hard (10 on the Mohs scale). You can try scratching the surface with a material of known hardness, like a quartz crystal (7 on the Mohs scale). If the stone is scratched, it is likely not a black diamond.

3. Conductivity Test:
Diamonds, including black diamonds, are good conductors of heat. If you have a thermal conductivity tester (diamond tester), you can test if the stone conducts heat. A real diamond will disperse heat quickly.

4. Magnification:
Using a magnifying glass or jeweler’s loupe (10x magnification), inspect the stone closely. Black diamonds are polycrystalline, meaning they are composed of many tiny crystals. This structure can appear under magnification as small black clusters or an uneven texture.

5. Weight Check:
Black diamonds tend to be denser than other gemstones. If you have access to a precise scale, you can compare the weight of the stone with a known diamond or gemstone of similar size.