Diamonds were first discovered in India around 500 B.C.
The first unit of weight used for diamond was the carob seed;
the weight of a seed from the seed pod of the carob or locust
tree was equivalent to a 1.00 ct. diamond, nowadays 0.2 gram.
Note: Do not confuse carat with carat weight.
Carat refers to stone weight while carat weight refers to fineness of gold.
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Determining the Carat Weight
The weight of a diamond is measured in carats.
This is the easiest factor to determine.
One carat is divided into 100 "points", thus a diamond with
75 points weighs .75 carats.
However, two diamonds of equal weight
may have a very unequal value, depending on their cut, color and
clarity. Quality is not determined by weight alone.Diamonds, today, are weighed using the metric system and the resulting weights are still converted into the carat as the unit of Diamond weight.
Devices used for calculating weight are the screw micrometer, the Moh gauge and the leverage gauge to mention a few.
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Below is a graph illustrating Weight, in Carats, Diameter and Height.
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Ct
0.05 |
0.10 |
0.20 |
0.25 |
0.30 |
0.40 |
0.50 |
0.70 |
0.90 |
1.00 |
1.25 |
1.50 |
1.75 |
2.00 |
2.50 |
3.00 |
Ømm
2.5 |
3.0 |
3.8 |
4.1 |
4.5 |
4.8 |
5.2 |
5.8 |
6.3 |
6.5 |
6.9 |
7.4 |
7.8 |
8.2 |
8.8 |
9.4 |
h mm
1.5 |
1.8 |
2.3 |
2.5 |
2.7 |
3.0 |
3.1 |
3.5 |
3.8 |
3.9 |
4.3 |
4.5 |
4.7 |
4.9 |
5.3 |
5.6 |
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