Jewelry Education
Understand Diamond Carat
A carat is a measure used to weigh diamonds & gemstones. It is 1/5 of a gram or 0.200 of a gram, thus being much smaller in terms of scales. Each carat is thereby divided into 100 cents or points, which explain why you commonly hear “50 pointers” which translates into a 0.50-carat stone.
To make this simple, let’s understand the last paragraph using mathematical statements (because some of us love Math),
In terms of weights,
Therefore, 1 carat = (1/5) grams = 0.20 grams
Now, if you want to know the weight in grams of a 0.40 carat diamond, you can calculate as below,
Therefore, 0.40 carat = 0.40 x 0.20 grams = 0.08 grams
This knowledge will help you understand a bit about the difference between gross weight and net weight. Consider, there are a ring weight 4.5 grams and it is made of 18K gold, 0.40 carats of diamonds and 5 carats of pearl. Now can you calculate what would be the net weight of gold in this ring?
In the above equation, We are aware of the values of X in grams, and B & C in carats, and we need to find out B in grams. Let us first convert the value of B & C in carats to grams.
B = Weight of Diamond
B = 0.40 carat = 0.40 x 0.20 grams = 0.08 grams
C = Weight of Pearl
C = 5 Carats = 5 x 0.20 grams = 1 grams
Therefore, the equation becomes. –
4.5 grams = A + 0.08 + 1.0
A = 4.5 – 0.08 – 1.0
A = 3.42 grams
Thus, the net gold weight of the ring is 3.42 grams
We hope the above example clarified your confusions.
You may face another type of confusion – the confusion between measuring the weight of the diamonds in carat or cents or pointers. Let’s help you with that as well.
Just like 1 Rupee = 100 Paisa,
You can say 1 Carat = 100 Cents = 100 Points
Therefore if you have 1 piece of 0.15 carat diamond, you may call it
Cents or pointers are used to talk about the weight of the diamond when the weight in question is less than 1 carat.
Carat or Karat ?
The term Carat should not be used interchangeably with the term Karat as they both stand for completely different things.
Karat (K) - is the purity of gold
Carats (ct) - on the other hand are solely used as a measure to weigh gemstones or diamond.
