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In addition to created diamonds, there are other stones that are different from and in some aspects better than diamonds. The best one seems to be Moissanite,

In addition to created diamonds, there are other stones that are different from and in some aspects better than diamonds. The best one seems to be Moissanite, which also has the rather pedestrian name of silicon carbide. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moissanite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moissanite Here's a strong opinion about why diamonds suck and you should go with alternatives: http://diamondssuck.com/ http://diamondssuck.com/ Lastly, a more dispassionate analysis: http://www.doamore.com/diamonds-vs-moissanite/ http://www.doamore.com/diamonds-vs-moissanite/ Moissanite can be 90% cheaper than equivalent diamond, not just 30%.

yougotborked 10y ago
Yep, my now fiance loves her Moissanite stone. I actually got it from AliExpress and then had it appraised by a jeweler to check it's authenticity. Saved a bunch of money and got a great product.
- Scoundreller 10y ago
  Link/source?
- kwhitefoot 10y ago
  Pictures?
  - lisivka 10y ago
    Diamon vs Mossanite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZE3Vkb85Z4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZE3Vkb85Z4
    - kwhitefoot 10y ago
      Thank you! Both pretty but I can't see myself spending much on either.
j_s 10y ago
Big discussion last month: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12944464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12944464 Apparently moissanite just came off patent protection last year so it is an even better option now than when some of those resources were created.
ISL 10y ago
Disclaimer: I hold a small amount of stock (and lost a lot of market value) in a silicon-carbide gem company. Yep - silicon carbide is very cool. It's weakly birefringent, which can be noticeable in larger gems, but the refractive index is larger than that of diamond, and the dispersion is greater too. No matter from whence your gems come, the nuclei were largely forged at the heart of a star, same as everything but the hydrogen in your body. The only people to whom I recommend natural stones are those with a connection to the earth or to a specific place. Geologists have a soft spot for natural diamonds. When considering an engagement ring for my now-wife, I spent a lot of time looking at sapphires from Montana. Only the risk of shattering them in a tension setting kept me from going that route. The final thing that nudged me into synthetic stones was looking into the open-pit Cripple Creek gold mine. The environmental destruction we create in search of precious materials is considerable. Synthetic stones are made from carbon, sand, and electric power, all comparatively easy on the planet. Diamonds are cool. So are lots of other choices. Look around; it's neat.
a_c 10y ago
Last month when the HN discussion on moissanite came out, I looked around for moissanite polishing tutorial and how to create your own moissanite. To my surprise, there were so limited resources available online
- ISL 10y ago
  Manufacturing your own moissanite is hard. Crystalline silicon carbide is produced as an industrial process for the semiconductor industry. Jewelry makers purchase boules from them. The major US moissanite maker sources their SiC from Cree. Cutting and polishing, however, should be comparable to any other gemstone.
BlytheSchuma 10y ago
So would Moissanite be a better alternative for encasing nuclear waste batteries?
- ars 10y ago
  I hate that name because they do NOT run on nuclear waste - you have to make nuclear material specially for them. Ordinary waste from a power plant will not work! Anyway I think they use carbon for its electrical properties, not the strength.
  - DennisP 10y ago
    They're planning to use carbon-14 from the graphite moderators of nuclear reactors. The U.K. has 95,000 tons of them in storage. http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-turning-nuclear-waste-into-super-efficient-diamond-batteries http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-turning-nuclear-w...
    - ars 10y ago
      Carbon-14 is not the type of nuclear waste anyone is worried about. It's barely radioactive, with a long half life and very low decay energy. Disposing of it doesn't pose any issues because it is unable to make anything else radioactive. You want to make a long lasting low power nuclear battery? Go for it. But don't try to trick people into thinking you are doing anything about nuclear waste. The nuclear waste that causes problems is the type with neutron decay that is able to activate nearby elements. That is tricky to dispose of, and difficult to store.
      - DennisP 10y ago
        You didn't specify whether it was waste anyone worries about. You claimed the material has to be made specially for these batteries. That's not the case, it's literally a radioactive waste material from nuclear reactors. According to the article I linked, it does need to be safely stored, since it's dangerous to touch or ingest, and it needs that storage for a long period of time.
443633456 10y ago
"It's a Mossanite" "...a...what-a-nite?" "A Mossainite. Artificial, spurious, not-genuine and it's worth....fuck all"
- possibilistic 10y ago
  Diamonds aren't worth much because they're actually not that rare. The only reason they command the price they do now is because of the De Beers cartel. The "diamond alternative" meme is becoming increasingly popular with our generation, such that I predict that in a few generations nobody will care to buy "real" diamonds for engagement purposes. When this happens, the price of diamonds will fall dramatically (if it hasn't already by that point). Diamonds are so overrated.
  - saiya-jin 10y ago
    almost nobody cared about diamonds 3 generations ago too. marketing, nothing more. when I see women boasting with their ground diamond jewelry they are telling me couple of things: a) they are a bit ignorant; b) they have sheepish crowd mentality; c) they put too much emphasis on what others thing about themselves, which just shows other personality issues; d) and most importantly they are willingly supporting genocide and enslavement for all above which is OK, good to know immediately who you are dealing with
  - a_imho 10y ago
    It was a movie reference though.
- Pigo 10y ago
  What do I know about diamonds? I'm a boxing promoter. I was a happy boxing promoter until a week ago ...
JumpCrisscross 10y ago
We may have started turning corner on this one. A friend, senior in the diamond industry, recently commented on how she, too, has caught herself judging younger couples who opt for natural-diamond wedding tokens. At best, she assumes they're ignorant of the worthlessness of ground-dug diamonds.

yougotborked 10y ago

Yep, my now fiance loves her Moissanite stone. I actually got it from AliExpress and then had it appraised by a jeweler to check it's authenticity. Saved a bunch of money and got a great product.

Scoundreller 10y ago
Link/source?
kwhitefoot 10y ago
Pictures?
- lisivka 10y ago
  Diamon vs Mossanite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZE3Vkb85Z4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZE3Vkb85Z4
  - kwhitefoot 10y ago
    Thank you! Both pretty but I can't see myself spending much on either.

j_s 10y ago

Big discussion last month: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12944464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12944464 Apparently moissanite just came off patent protection last year so it is an even better option now than when some of those resources were created.

ISL 10y ago

Disclaimer: I hold a small amount of stock (and lost a lot of market value) in a silicon-carbide gem company. Yep - silicon carbide is very cool. It's weakly birefringent, which can be noticeable in larger gems, but the refractive index is larger than that of diamond, and the dispersion is greater too. No matter from whence your gems come, the nuclei were largely forged at the heart of a star, same as everything but the hydrogen in your body. The only people to whom I recommend natural stones are those with a connection to the earth or to a specific place. Geologists have a soft spot for natural diamonds. When considering an engagement ring for my now-wife, I spent a lot of time looking at sapphires from Montana. Only the risk of shattering them in a tension setting kept me from going that route. The final thing that nudged me into synthetic stones was looking into the open-pit Cripple Creek gold mine. The environmental destruction we create in search of precious materials is considerable. Synthetic stones are made from carbon, sand, and electric power, all comparatively easy on the planet. Diamonds are cool. So are lots of other choices. Look around; it's neat.

a_c 10y ago

Last month when the HN discussion on moissanite came out, I looked around for moissanite polishing tutorial and how to create your own moissanite. To my surprise, there were so limited resources available online

ISL 10y ago
Manufacturing your own moissanite is hard. Crystalline silicon carbide is produced as an industrial process for the semiconductor industry. Jewelry makers purchase boules from them. The major US moissanite maker sources their SiC from Cree. Cutting and polishing, however, should be comparable to any other gemstone.

BlytheSchuma 10y ago

So would Moissanite be a better alternative for encasing nuclear waste batteries?

ars 10y ago
I hate that name because they do NOT run on nuclear waste - you have to make nuclear material specially for them. Ordinary waste from a power plant will not work! Anyway I think they use carbon for its electrical properties, not the strength.
- DennisP 10y ago
  They're planning to use carbon-14 from the graphite moderators of nuclear reactors. The U.K. has 95,000 tons of them in storage. http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-turning-nuclear-waste-into-super-efficient-diamond-batteries http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-turning-nuclear-w...
  - ars 10y ago
    Carbon-14 is not the type of nuclear waste anyone is worried about. It's barely radioactive, with a long half life and very low decay energy. Disposing of it doesn't pose any issues because it is unable to make anything else radioactive. You want to make a long lasting low power nuclear battery? Go for it. But don't try to trick people into thinking you are doing anything about nuclear waste. The nuclear waste that causes problems is the type with neutron decay that is able to activate nearby elements. That is tricky to dispose of, and difficult to store.
    - DennisP 10y ago
      You didn't specify whether it was waste anyone worries about. You claimed the material has to be made specially for these batteries. That's not the case, it's literally a radioactive waste material from nuclear reactors. According to the article I linked, it does need to be safely stored, since it's dangerous to touch or ingest, and it needs that storage for a long period of time.

443633456 10y ago

"It's a Mossanite" "...a...what-a-nite?" "A Mossainite. Artificial, spurious, not-genuine and it's worth....fuck all"

possibilistic 10y ago
Diamonds aren't worth much because they're actually not that rare. The only reason they command the price they do now is because of the De Beers cartel. The "diamond alternative" meme is becoming increasingly popular with our generation, such that I predict that in a few generations nobody will care to buy "real" diamonds for engagement purposes. When this happens, the price of diamonds will fall dramatically (if it hasn't already by that point). Diamonds are so overrated.
- saiya-jin 10y ago
  almost nobody cared about diamonds 3 generations ago too. marketing, nothing more. when I see women boasting with their ground diamond jewelry they are telling me couple of things: a) they are a bit ignorant; b) they have sheepish crowd mentality; c) they put too much emphasis on what others thing about themselves, which just shows other personality issues; d) and most importantly they are willingly supporting genocide and enslavement for all above which is OK, good to know immediately who you are dealing with
- a_imho 10y ago
  It was a movie reference though.
Pigo 10y ago
What do I know about diamonds? I'm a boxing promoter. I was a happy boxing promoter until a week ago ...

JumpCrisscross 10y ago

We may have started turning corner on this one. A friend, senior in the diamond industry, recently commented on how she, too, has caught herself judging younger couples who opt for natural-diamond wedding tokens. At best, she assumes they're ignorant of the worthlessness of ground-dug diamonds.