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Comment by gnicholas | Hacker News Reader

From what I hear, moissanite (and man-made diamonds) are pretty much indistinguishable from natural diamonds. How would someone's friends figure out that it's not a natural diamond? I would think the only way the wife would know is if she asked about the diamond's papers, if she was going to get an insurance policy for it or something.

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Synthetic diamonds are insitinguishable to the naked eye from natural diamonds (hint: they contain less impurities), but the moissante refracts the light in a different, more colourful, way that I personally don't like. Lab grown diamonds are the way to go if you or your partner don't like moissante, DeBeers or forced child labour. Specialized jewelers can tell if a diamond is lab grown or natural.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_diamond

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour_in_the_diamond_...

> How would someone's friends figure out that it's not a natural diamond? I would think the only way the wife would know is if she asked about the diamond's papers, if she was going to get an insurance policy for it or something.

It actually doesn't matter how she finds out that you lied to her about the biggest life change she will ever experience for the rest of her life. What matters is that lying to a person you want to marry is a sure-fire way to end the marriage at some definite future point.

Arguing that it's okay because you will never be found out isn't relevant.

> Arguing that it's okay because you will never be found out isn't relevant.

I didn't argue this at all, and in a reply to another comment below, 3 hours before your comment, I made it clear that all I was saying was that it's a bit farfetched to say someone is going to be embarrassed in front of her friends because of the ring.

>> Arguing that it's okay because you will never be found out isn't relevant.

> I didn't argue this at all,

I apologise. In the bit that I quoted, specifically this sentence:

>>>> I would think the only way the wife would know is [...]

it appeared to me that you were arguing that the wife would never know unless [...] happened. To me, that sentence implies deceiving the wife.

Moissanite has a different refractive index and dispersion. They do look different.

Lying to your spouse is wrong even if you can't think of a way you would get caught.

I wasn't advocating for lying, just pointing out that one would not easily be embarrassed in front of friends with the substitutes available today.

There are cheap handheld thermal conductivity testers that will immediately distinguish diamond from moissanite and other stimulants.

But who goes around asking their friends to let them test their diamonds with their thermal tester?

Insane people, but let's not pretend those don't exist.

You can also tell these particular people, if they’re insane and toxic enough to try such things, to fuck off.

I'm no expert, but there's a lot of misinformation around this point. Apparently there is no 100% reliable test apart from spectrometry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE51TMRJn8U

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