Quick Facts on Moissanite Stone
| Chemical Formula |
: | SiC |
| Color |
: | Green |
| Hardness |
: | 9.25 |
| Specific Gravity |
: | 3.1 - 3.2 |

Moissanite
is a hard mineral that was discovered by Dr. Ferdinand Henri
Moissan, a French chemist and Nobel Prize winner. He found tiny
amounts of Moissanite in the iron meteorite that was found at Diablo
Canyon (also called Meteor Crater) in Arizona, USA. Synthetic
moissanite is also known as silicon carbide after its chemistry and
by the trade name, carborundum.
Moissanite grown in laboratories is used as a gemstone or diamond
simulant. Moissanite and diamond are thermally conductive unlike
other diamond simulants and this property is used as the test for
the authenticity of real diamonds. Other differences are: Moissanite
is hexagonal, not isometric and therefore it is doubly refractive
unlike diamond. Moissanite is also slightly less dense than diamond
and is rarely perfectly clear of color, having pale shades of green.
Natural moissanite is very rare and is limited to iron-nickel
meteorites and a few other rare ultra-mafic igneous occurences.
Moissanite is classified as an element dispite the fact, that in
chemical reality, it is a compound. The elemental bonds that exist
between carbon and silicon are very similar to the carbon-carbon
bonds of other elemental minerals such as diamond.