CZ vs Diamond
CZ is an acronym that stands for Cubic Zirconia, the crystalline form of zirconium dioxide. It has a close visual likeness to diamond and because of this fact CZ remains the major competitor to diamonds in terms of cost. This makes CZ the most popular ‘fake diamonds’ in the world. CZ is synthesized into a hard, optically flawless material that may be colorless or may be made with varying colors. Although the synthesized material is hard, it doesn’t compare to the hardness of diamond, which is known to be the hardest natural material.
CZ is made by man in laboratories, graded as grade A through grade AAAAA, which is the highest grade and grade A as the lowest. Grade A which is the poorest can easily be spotted if used to imitate a real diamond.
CZs give off light differently from how diamonds emit light and that’s the easiest way one could tell the difference. Because CZs have a higher dispersion of prismatic light, they will give off more colored light than white light flashes than a pure diamond does.
CZs are perfectly clean, having almost no flaws when viewed with a powerful jeweler’s loupe. For this they are differently cut and polished so that they can give off a brilliant ‘fire’. On the other hand natural diamonds contain some flaws and when a diamond is cut, its edges where the facets meet will be sharp and crisp whereas on a CZ the edges will be more rounded and smooth.
In terms of hardness, CZs will do well and they are harder than most gemstones, rating at 8.5 on most hardness scales. However diamonds will always rate at 10, which is the highest on any scale. A hardness test is another reliable way to tell ‘fake diamonds’ like CZs from real diamonds. CZs are very brittle too and usually tend to easily break and that’s why they dull up and chip away under wear and tear in the shortest time, showing up scratches.
Another notable difference is that CZs usually burn under intense heat, unlike diamonds. This is the reason why sizing CZ rings is very troublesome as heat will almost shatter the stone. Also CZs cost far less than diamonds and in fact they go for almost nothing when compared to the cost of real diamond. Cost should be another easy indicator of telling a CZ from a diamond.
Summary:
1. CZs give off more flashes of colored light than white light unlike diamonds.
2. CZs are synthesized in laboratories whereas diamonds exist naturally in their entirety.
3. CZs are flawless whereas diamonds contain visible flaws when viewed under the jeweler’s loupe.
4. CZs cannot sustain intense heat whereas diamonds can sustain very high temperature.
5. Diamonds are notably harder than CZs.