Renesim-common-banner
Handmade from recycled gold

Dispersion

Dispersion Diamanten

Dispersion – reflection in the colors of the rainbow

In the case of gemstones, dispersion is an optical property, such as that observed in the rainbow. Gemstones with pronounced dispersion flash in the spectral colors when they are rotated in the light. The special thing is that these colors are not actually present in the gemstone; they are only created by the different strengths of refraction of the incident light rays.

How does dispersion occur?

The reason for this is the different wavelengths contained in white light. Since these are refracted to different degrees by the gemstone, the colorful colors of the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet - appear in the viewer's eye.

Dispersion is particularly pronounced when the gemstone is as transparent as possible and has a faceted cut. In a diamond, dispersion creates the hauntingly beautiful appearance and the exciting, colorful sparkle. The dispersion of light in this gemstone is referred to as fire.

The dispersion of gemstones

Transparent and, if possible, colorless faceted gemstones show the most impressive dispersion. Its strength is usually determined by the difference in the refractive index of the long-wave, weakly refracted color red and the short-wave, strongly refracted color violet.

For this purpose, the Fraunhofer lines B from the red range and G from the blue-violet range are usually used (BG dispersion). However, some dispersion specifications refer to line C from the orange color spectrum and line F from the blue-green region.

A BG dispersion of 0.044 is characteristic for diamonds, while the CF dispersion value is 0.025. Since the dispersion differs from gemstone to gemstone, it is suitable for its identification.

Demantoid with 0.057, titanite with 0.051 and zircon with 0.039 (BG dispersion) have a very strong dispersion.

To the Diamond Search

diamond jewelry

Buy gemstones

Diamonds in the Lexicon

Diamond Rating