my diamonds look different in the tanning bed

[radiantquest]

hi guys, its been a while since i was here. i recently noticed that while i was in the tanning bed that some of the diamonds in my ering were reflecting the light differently. i know that if anyone can explain this to me it would be you.

first off i dont notice any fluoresence in daylight, i have never noticed any of them looking blue at any other time. the princess in the middle looks faint blue, one of the diamonds on the side is a little blue and one that it is in the halo type thing is completely blue. all the other diamonds sparkle rainbow in there, but that one that is completely blue doesnt even look like a diamond. at first i thought that it had fallen out and i was seeing just metal reflect that color.

I have done some research and i am not sure if it is fluoresence because there is no "milky" change, just the color.

could someone explain this to me?

 

[glitterata]

That is fluorescence. The stones that look blue in the tanning bed have blue fluorescence--the bluer they look, the stronger it is. They are responding to the UV light that is what makes you tan. Fluorescence rarely makes diamonds look milky, but it does make them light up like that. It''s hard to see it in the daylight because all the visible light drowns out the effect.

 

[oldmancoyote]

...plus, the tanning light is mostly UV, whereas daylight contains a fairly small proportion of UV!

 

[radiantquest]

from what i have read that is neither a good or bad thing right?

 

[stone-cold11]

Date: 5/29/2009 4:48:45 PM
Author: radiantquest
from what i have read that is neither a good or bad thing right?

Yap, nothing wrong with it as long as in normal lighting it does not look oily/hazy. Only a very small percentage does that.

 

[Todd Gray]

Diamonds can look dramatically different when viewed under different light sources and lighting conditions. Light sources being the type and temperature of the light being used for illumination, such as incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, sunlight, etc. and lighting conditions being the distance between the light source and the ring, the distance between the light source | diamond | person; and the distance and position / placement of things like your head, the ceiling, a building or tree, etc. which serves to diffuse the light and create shadows which serve to create contrast - what we really are talking about when we talk about what we "see" in and from a diamond...

So when you're sitting in the tanning bed looking at your diamond - hey wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be wearing protective goggles?!?! - the light source is so close to the diamond and is unobstructed to the extent that nothing is casting a shadow upon the diamond and no surface is available for light to reflect off of - thus the diamond looks different than when you view it in a room where light is cast about from surface to surface and a shadow is created within the diamond by your head...

This concept is why diamonds tend to flatten out when viewed out in the middle of a meadow on a bright sunny day... But then the same diamond will perform wonderfully when viewed beneath a shady tree at the edge of the meadow, this is because the leaves of the tree create shadows / diffused light as the light passes through them... And the same diamond will look fabulous when viewed outside while you're walking about on a bright sunny day in the midst of tall buildings which serve to create the same contrast.

Then there is the issue of the mechanics of the human eye and how different types of light and intensity of light affect the dilation of the pupil and all that... Our eyes will interpret light in a diamond differently depending on the lighting conditions, etc. Hope that helps!

 

[Diamond*Dana]

My diamond has this same effect when I get my nails done and rest my hands under the drying lights. It is only the center stone of my three stone, the side stones have no flouro.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think it is great!!! I''d love to have a diamond that had "special effects" under UV lighting!

 

[blueroses]

I''m thread-chasing DS today. I LOVE flourescence. Super cool! Get some pictures of that baby in the bed!!

 

[Ribbon Ring]

Aren''t you going to get a tan line if you''re wearing your rings in the tanning bed?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

In order to properly assess this, I''ll need to see a full length photo (for scale) of you in the tanning bed wearing the subject rings.