Diamonds

Are Diamonds really rare and valuable?

Diamonds are our most popular gemstone. That hasn’t always been the case. It was only in the last century that diamonds became readily available. Prior to that, rubies and sapphires were the most popular gems, especially for engagement rings.

All gem grade materials are rare, composing just a tiny fraction of the earth. However, among gems, diamonds are actually the most common. If you doubt this ask yourself; “How many women do you know that do not own at least one diamond?” Now ask the same question about other gems.

And the common belief that diamonds are inherently valuable? It’s just not true. In fact, reselling a diamond for top dollar isn’t all that easy. Once you leave the jewelry shop after buying a diamond, it loses 50% of its value. It’s what economists call a thin market.

One diamond cartel, De Beers, has artificially driven up the price of diamonds for decades. A 1920s advertising campaign set a cultural expectation of diamonds as an expression of love that has endured since.

DeBeers maintained monopolistic control over the diamond market for several decades. They carefully released only enough rough diamonds to satisfy then-current demand, while continually adjusting the degree to which the rough diamonds were made available. This caused continually escalating prices, and of course, it increased the perception of rarity.

With that, we can almost say that, crystallized carbon — one of the most abundant substances in the universe, Diamonds are a worldwide scam.

Debunked!
 P.S. - If you have any urban legend or superstition that you are doubtful of, just comment it and I will try to debunk that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Human Body in Outer Space

Image
Will an astronaut explode if he takes off his helmet? Have you ever wondered what might happen to your body in space without a spacesuit? Is it really as dramatic as the movies make it out to be? Would you literally EXPLODE? Could you survive? The most serious dangers of exposure to outer space are a lack of oxygen and ebullism. Ebullism is the formation of bubbles in body fluids due to a reduction in ambient pressure. You’ll swell up pretty bad, perhaps even up to twice your normal size, but you won’t explode as your skin is very stretchy. Your blood will also not boil. You will, of course, be in an immense amount of pain and your blood circulation will be impeded. After around 15 seconds, your body would have used up all of the oxygen in your body and you’d lose consciousness. Some of you may be thinking “But I can hold my breath for minutes!” The situation in space is a little different than here on Earth due to the lack of outside pressure, and if you held y...
Keep reading

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Image
Could T. Rex Really Only See You If You Moved? It’s a question that has plagued moviegoers since Jurassic Park was released in 1993: Could a T. Rex really only see you if you moved? Thanks to researchers at the University of Oregon, that question could finally be answered. University of Oregon researcher Professor Kent Stevens began a project called “DinoMorph” in 1993 which set out to generate digital models of various theropod dinosaurs, including the infamous Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptors. Theropods were bipedal, flesh-eating dinosaurs with short forelimbs. The idea of the project was to recreate the visualizations of these animals. To do this, Stevens effectively turned a technique used to measure and assess visual fields, called perimetry, inside out. This novel technique, called inverse perimetry, involved the use of taxidermic eyes, a laser and a glass plate which together allowed Stevens to estimate whether a particular object would be visible at v...
Keep reading

First Circumnavigation

Image
Did Magellan really circumnavigate the globe? The Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan is often credited as being the first person to have circumnavigated the globe, but the reality of his journey is a bit more complicated. First off, he didn't set out to circle the globe, but rather to find a safer way for Spanish merchants to fabled Spice Islands. Magellan's expedition is the first one to accomplish circumnavigation, but poor Ferdinand didn't make it home, since he was killed by natives in the Philippines in 1521, about halfway home. But since Ferdinand was the captain and leader of the expedition, he gets the credit. So if Magellan wasn’t the first human to circumnavigate the globe, who was? This is slightly up for debate. The honor may go to Magellan’s personal slave, Enrique of Malacca, though it isn’t quite clear whether he made the last 1000 or so miles necessary to actually officially complete the trip, or if he did, when he did it. T...
Keep reading