Diamond Carat Sizes

The word carat comes from the carob seed the original unit of measure for diamond traders.

Diamond carat sizes.

Understanding the 4 c s of a diamond color cut carat clarity and the factors that impact its quality price and value. Likewise the physical size of a 2 carat diamond 8 2mm diameter isn t twice as big as that of a 1 carat diamond 6 5mm diameter. So while the one carat is double the weight the face of the half carat diamond is only 21 smaller. The diamond on the left is 1 00 carat and has a good cut.

So even though the two diamonds have different carat sizes they have the same surface area because of the poorer cut of the first one about 10 of the carat weight is wasted. The surface area is 6 23x6 2mm. That is 1 5th of an inch. Diamonds are sold by the carat shown as ct which is actually a unit of weight though most think of a carat in terms of size.

A half carat diamond is usually 5 1mm in diameter. Printable carat weight to mm chart. While carat is the standard unit of measurement the millimeter size measurement of a diamond tells you its true physical size. How large is a half carat diamond.

The diamond on the right weighs in at 0 92 carats and has an excellent cut. To compare that a one carat diamond is 6 4mm. Today a carat is equal to exactly 0 2 grams about the weight of a paper clip. This is important when considering the faceting and shape because as you can see in the diamond weight chart above certain shapes will appear larger in size at equivalent carat weights.