Moissanite vs Diamond: Primary Differences to Know

Are you a soon-to-be bride who has been confused as to know what kind of gems you want to choose for your engagement ring, moissanite vs diamond?

If the answer is yes, you might want to take some time to conduct deep research for every gem that you want to choose.

Both gems have their own unique pros and cons, and there is no single answer for any kind of problem.

Make sure you already know what kind of gem you want to choose by understanding both gems perfectly.

Contents

1 Moissanite vs Diamond: Primary Differences to Know
2 What is Moissanite?
3 What is Diamond?
4 Differences between Moissanite vs Diamond
5 Conclusion

Moissanite vs Diamond: Primary Differences to Know

What is Moissanite?

If you haven’t heard about moissanite, this is actually a gemstone that was born from the stars that were invented for the first time by Henri Moissan in 1893.

At first, that French scientist thought that he had found a diamond, but later, it can be defined as a different gemstone.

Moissanite comes from silicon carbide, a very rare mineral that even can’t be found in nature in an adequate size to be cut into a small gemstone.

Thus, this kind of gemstone today is only available because of the synthesis process in the laboratory.

Moissanite is also called a diamond simulant and is often used to give the optical illusion to make it similar to diamond, even though the compositions, durabilities, and shapes are quite different.

What is Diamond?

Different from moissanite, diamond is actually a solid form of carbon that is arranged in a diamond cubic structure.

When a diamond is located at room temperature and pressure, graphite will be chemically stable, but a diamond will convert to it very slowly.

Compared to any other natural material, diamond is the hardest among them. Besides, it also has the highest thermal conductivity.

Unfortunately, diamond has rigid atoms arrangement that can affect the purities of a diamond because of contamination.

Differences between Moissanite vs Diamond

1. The price of moissanite is so much cheaper than a diamond

It makes sense that moissanite costs less money in your wallet than a diamond does. The price gap is significantly big between those gems and is considered the biggest advantage of moissanite compared to a diamond.

Usually, you will just need to pay one-tenth the cost of a diamond if you choose to buy a moissanite gem.

At a cheaper price, you are for sure able to get a diamond-like gemstone with equal quality and also size.

Even so, you need to remember that the moissanite value will be greater if the carat weights also greater.

Moissanite is more recommended for you if you want a white gemstone with a large carat but you don’t have much money.

2. Diamond has higher durability than moissanite

It is not a surprise anymore knowing that diamond has the highest durability and hardness compared to other natural materials.

This amazing characteristic makes a diamond become more resistant to abrasions because it possesses a higher degree of hardness.

Because of this good quality, a diamond is very suitable to be used in everyday wear, particularly to be used as an engagement ring.

On the other side, moissanite also has a great quality of hardness. If it’s compared to other materials, moissanite becomes the second hardest after diamonds.

Diamond has a 10 Mohs hardness scale, meanwhile, moissanite has a Mohs hardness scale of 9.25 to 9.5.

3. Moissanite has more brilliance than a diamond

Another significant difference between moissanite and diamond is in terms of their level of brilliance or sparkle.

Moissanite generally has more brilliance than a diamond, because it has more fire than other gemstones.

It is also double refractive and during the process, moissanite is usually cut differently than a diamond to enhance sparkles.

Also, moissanite has more dispersion value than a diamond, so when you rotate it, you will be able to see greater fire or spectral colors more clearly.

4. Usually, moissanite is manufactured colorless or with a light tint, meanwhile diamond color can vary

Even though both moissanite and a diamond are able to have colors or no colors at all, there is a difference in their colors.

Traditionally, moissanite has a light tint of yellow or green on it, even though the manufacturers prefer to make it colorless.

On the other hand, a diamond can be formed in colors that can be graded on a scale of D up to Z scale.

D scale is defined as colorless, meanwhile, the Z scale is defined as a light yellow or even brown. The color range varies from colorless, yellow, pink, blue, green, red, or brown.

5. Moissanite is created at the laboratory, meanwhile, diamond is selected from the natural environment

If you, by any chance, are an environmentalist or aware of the eco-friendly gemstone, you can choose moissanite as your favorite gemstone.

This stone is more appealing to you because it is created in the laboratory and doesn’t require a mining process.

Meanwhile, a diamond itself has been selected from the natural environment ethically to minimize the environmental impact.

6. It’s harder to see the imperfections of moissanite clearly than see the imperfections of a diamond

Moissanite is manufactured at the laboratory, so it is understandable if this gemstone doesn’t have any significant imperfections.

Because of this manufacturing process, moissanite will always be eye-clean and all the imperfections will be less visible.

Oppositely, because diamond is selected from the natural environment of the natural mining process, it is possible that diamond contains several imperfections.

8. Moissanite size is usually manufactured larger than a diamond

The size of moissanite is usually taken from Brilliant Earth’s Super Premium moissanite, which is also equivalent to a D-E-F diamond color grade.

Even though you can always get equal size and quality from both gemstones, it is pretty clear that moissanite size is usually larger if it’s compared to the price.

If you pay some money for a diamond of a certain carat or size, you will usually be more likely to get huge moissanite.

Moissanite is also usually 20% larger than a D-E-F diamond, so it is not surprising if many people prefer moissanite over a diamond in terms of their size.