Beautifying oneself with jewelry is everyone’s desire. Using different materials and ornaments for looking beautiful varies along with time.
Diamond and platinum are two out of those decorating materials. Both the names are quite popular, but not everyone knows their exact composition and difference.
If we answer in one word, we can say platinum is metal while diamond is gemstone.
Key Takeaways
- Diamonds are crystalline forms of carbon renowned for their hardness and brilliance, while platinum is a dense, silvery-white precious metal known for its durability and resistance to tarnishing.
- Diamonds are primarily used as gemstones in jewelry, whereas platinum is employed as a setting material for gemstones and in various industrial applications.
- Diamonds are evaluated based on the 4 Cs: carat weight, cut, color, and clarity, while platinum is valued for its purity, weight, and rarity.
Diamond vs Platinum
Diamond is a naturally occurring mineral, that is well known as a precious gemstone. Diamonds are prized for their brilliance, fire, and durability, and are used in jewelry. Platinum, is a metallic element that is dense, rare, and silvery-white, it can also be used in jewelry.
Diamond is the hardest form of carbon that contains 99% of carbon. It is a very rare gemstone.
It formed naturally in the earth’s mantle at very high temperatures and pressure. Diamond shines brightly because it has a high luster.
That’s why even by wearing the tiniest piece of diamond, it is noticeable.
Platinum is a highly unreactive, precious, and silverish white metal that has an atomic number of 78 on the periodic table. The extraction process of platinum is highly complex.
It is used in various fields like cancer drugs, jewelry, dentistry, etc. It is natural white metal that does not require any plating.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Diamond | Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Diamond is a solid form of carbon element which has 99% of carbon content. | Platinum is a chemical substance with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78 and is a silverish transition metal. |
| Colour | It occurs in a variety of colors like yellow, orange, white, grey. | Pale greyish white |
| Hardness | Highly hard | Less hard |
| Maintenance | Easy to maintain | Difficult to maintain |
| Ductility | Less ductile | More ductile |
What is Diamond?
Diamond is the form of carbon and is a rare gemstone. It is a mineral composed of pure carbon.
It is the hardest occurring substance. Because of its extreme hardness, it has a wide range of applications.
It is one of the allotropes of carbon. Carbon has two allotropes, graphite, and diamond.
The most common crystal structure of diamond is Diamond cubic. Some diamonds have opaque fibers. Their color ranges from yellow to green and grey.
The Hardness of a diamond depends upon its purity and orientation. The orientation of pure diamond is <111>.
Because of its hardness, it can only scratch by other diamonds.
They maintain their polishing and are well suited for wearing purposes because of their resistance to scratching. The hardest diamond originates in New England.
These diamonds are small and are used for polishing other diamonds.
Talking about toughness, Diamonds have great content with toughness. Toughness refers to the ability to resist breakage against forceful impact.
Moreover, diamonds are hydrophobic, which means their surface cannot be wet by water but can be stuck by oil.
Diamonds can be identified by their high thermal conductivity. It has a specific gravity of 3.4 to 3.6.
There is a wide range of applications for diamonds. They are used for jewelry purposes, used in metal industries, to make vehicles as well, also used for cutting and polishing other stones.
Highway construction companies use diamonds because their tools are coated with diamonds.
What is Platinum?
Platinum is a chemical element of the periodic table with the atomic number 78. It has 6 naturally occurring isotopes.
It is one of the rarest elements in the earth’s crust and is found along with native deposits in South Africa.
It is one of the least reactive metals and has resistance towards corrosion. Even at high temperatures, they do not corrode.
That’s why platinum is termed a noble metal. Platinum is lustrous ductile.
Reliable silver-white metal. It is more ductile than gold silver.
Because of its physical characteristics and chemical stability, it has a wide range of applications Platinum was first discovered in South America in around 1750, and it is also found in the Ural mountains, Russia. It occurred in the earth’s crust with a concentration of 0.005ppm.
Platinum is found as a by-product of copper and nickel during mining.
It is used for jewelry purposes. But its main application is catalytic conversions in cars, trucks, buses.
It is also used in the chemical industry as a catalyst for the production of nitric acid benzene. Electronic industries also use platinum for making computer hard disks.
Platinum is also used to make LCDs, turbine blades, optical fibers. Platinum has a known biological role because it is non-toxic.
Main Differences Between Diamond and Platinum
- Platinum is a metal and is termed as a noble metal, whereas Diamond is a stone and is a form of carbon
- Platinum is highly ductile, but Diamond is less ductile
- The price of Platinum depends upon its weight, i.e., its level of purity, whereas in the case of Diamond, we determine the price by 4c.
- Diamond is highly scratch resistant because of which it is only scratched by other diamonds, but platinum is not scratch resistant.
- Diamond is easily maintainable because it maintains its shape and is good for daily use, but platinum is difficult to maintain.
- https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspa.1913.0084
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00003495-200059004-00002
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
