{"id":702,"date":"2014-05-15T09:21:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T13:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwww.birkatelyon.com\/blog\/?p=702"},"modified":"2017-07-22T22:30:39","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T02:30:39","slug":"cubic-zirconia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/blog\/cubic-zirconia\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Cubic Zirconia?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cubic zirconia is a synthetically produced stone that is extraordinarily similar to diamonds in a number of its properties \u2013 including look, texture, luster, density, and clarity. Since cubic zirconia has so much in common with diamonds and is relatively inexpensive, it is often used as a stone in jewelry.<\/p>\n<p>Although cubic zirconia (CZ) is produced in synthetic form to optimize its affordability, it is based on the naturally occurring compound zirconium oxide (ZrO2). The natural version of the substance was first identified <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wisegeek.org\/what-is-cubic-zirconia.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in 1892<\/a>. However, it is not plentiful enough to serve as a less costly counterpart to diamonds, so the artificial form is used.<\/p>\n<p>To produce cubic zirconia in a lab setting, chemical engineers in Germany and Russia combined yttrium oxide (Y2O3) with zirconium oxide \u2013 aka <em>zirconia<\/em> \u2013 at high temperatures to produce \u201cman-made\u201d cubic zirconia. The additional compound was added to avoid cracking of pure zirconia due to stress from the rapid temperature shift.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clarity of CZ<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The colorless nature of cubic zirconia is particularly notable. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) developed the most widely used scale for evaluating and describing the color <a href=\"http:\/\/gia4cs.gia.edu\/EN-US\/diamond-color.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">of a diamond<\/a>. The scale ranges from \u201cD\u201d to \u201cZ,\u201d with those letters representing a spectrum of appearances: \u201ccolorless\u201d to \u201cnear colorless\u201d to \u201cfaint yellow\u201d to \u201cvery light yellow\u201d to \u201clight yellow.\u201d The best quality cubic zirconia \u2013 Russian Formula \u2013 can achieve the highest rating of a \u201cD\u201d on the GIA scale.<\/p>\n<p>Cubic zirconia (CZ) does not have to be made colorless, though. It is frequently produced with a subtle yellow shade to approximate diamonds naturally exhibiting that hue. Also, CZ is incredibly hard, reducing the likelihood of damage. The latter factor, along with its cost-effectiveness, is the reason many women purchase a CZ stone in the same design as their wedding ring, for use during travel and rugged activity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How light hits CZ vs. diamonds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One aspect of cubic zirconia that is especially notable is its <em>dispersion rate<\/em>. Dispersion allows a stone used in jewelry to divide rays of light into individual wavelengths. CZ disperses light more effectively than do diamonds.<\/p>\n<p>Cubic zirconia allows you to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/cubic-zirconia-rings\">purchase a ring<\/a>, necklace or other jewelry item in the design you want most, while avoiding the sometimes prohibitive expense of a diamond. Birkat Elyon, renowned worldwide for our consistently inspired and expertly crafted creations, hires trained artisans to hand-cut and hand-polish every CZ stone we use.<\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/u\/0\/102727328455346547569?rel=author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kent Roberts\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cubic zirconia is a synthetically produced stone that is extraordinarily similar to diamonds in a number of its properties \u2013 including look, texture, luster, density, and clarity. Since cubic zirconia has so much in common with diamonds and is relatively inexpensive, it is often used as a stone in jewelry. Although cubic zirconia (CZ) is produced in synthetic form to optimize its affordability, it is based on the naturally occurring&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[53,52,51,50],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Cubic Zirconia? &#8211; BirkatElyonBlog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/blog\/cubic-zirconia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Cubic Zirconia? &#8211; BirkatElyonBlog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cubic zirconia is a synthetically produced stone that is extraordinarily similar to diamonds in a number of its properties \u2013 including look, texture, luster, density, and clarity. 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