“Hi, this probably sounds really silly, and obviously I know they must be different because diamonds are so expensive, and you can get crystal rings really cheap, but what is the difference between crystals and diamonds?”
This is not actually as silly a question as it sounds, and a lot of people have the same concern, especially before spending often thousands of pounds on a diamond ring, they want to know that its real. Crystals are formed by repeating atomic structure. Many things have a repeated atomic structure (basically where all the atoms are lined up in exactly the same way) and the best example is a snowflake where the frozen water cells have all lined up to form a repeating pattern.
Crystals can therefore form from almost any material. Diamonds are a type of crystal formed from carbon, but then so is graphite. The difference between diamonds and graphite is the way the atoms are bonded together. As you are probably aware diamond is one of the hardest substances on earth, whereas graphite is bonded in a totally differently making it far less hard.
You can get crystals of all sorts of materials, and in jewelery many different type of precious crystals are used, for example quartz which is a naturally occurring crystal abundantly available throughout the UK. Quartz is actually exceptionally beautiful, but because it is so abundant its not really a precious stone and is far cheaper than diamond.
Diamonds are expensive because of the way their molecular structure refracts light and their rareness. Other factors such as the clarity of the diamond, and the colouring also have an enormous impact on the pricing of diamonds.
Glass is sometimes used as a “crystal” although this is actually quite misleading. Glass does not have a crystalline make-up (it doesn’t have atoms which all line up in a repeating structure, and is therefore amorphous). Glass can, however, be cut into a manner which makes it look like it is crystalline. For example Swarovski crystals are made from glass using a specially patented technique for cutting the glass.
Anyway, as interesting as this is it probably doesn’t put your mind at ease if you are thinking about buying a diamond and want to be certain that you aren’t being ripped off. My advice to you would be always buy diamonds from a reputable diamond shop, and if you have any doubt over it then get a second expert opinion. Most experts will be able to look at a diamond under a microscope and from years of experience they will recognise the crystalline structure of the diamond, I hope this helps.