Moissanite

Moissanites are a diamond alternative that shares many of the same characteristics as a natural mined diamond. A moissanite shouldn't be classified as a fake diamond or imitation diamond as a moissanites is its own type of gemstone. This gemstone was first discovered in a meteor crater in 1893 by french scientist Henri Moissan. A moissanite is made ofsilicon carbide; this rare substance is a combination or silicon and carbon. 

Silicon carbide is extremely rare and almost impossible to find naturally, because of this the substance is made in a lab. A moissanite is made by using a thermal growing process that creates a single crystal. 

Moissanites can often be confused with natural diamonds because they share many of the same characteristics such as the hardness , the fire and the brilliance. 

Hardness : The harder a gemstone is the better it is used for everyday use. The  hardness of gemstones are classified using the Mohs scale , this scale uses a ranking system ranging from 1 to 10. A diamond is the hardest gemstone with a rating of 10 while a moissanite is the 2nd hardest gemstone only being slightly below a diamond at 9.25

Fire :  The fire of a gemstone is used to describe how much colored light will be reflected back when light hits the stone. This is what created the rainbow effect of a stone. The higher the fire value the more colored light will be reflected back as color.

A diamond has a fire rating of .044 while a moissanite has a greater fire rating at .104.

Brilliance : The brilliance of a gemstone is used to describe the white light that will be reflected back from a stone. The higher the brilliance the more white light will be reflected back. A diamond has a brilliance rating of 2.42 while a moissanite has a greater rating at 2.65 to 2.69

The fire & brilliance with addition to the 4cs(make this a link to the 4cs) is what gives stones the beautiful sparkle that we all love. 

Show chart of the fire / brilliance / hardness