Diamonds are measured in carat weight. One carat is equal to 200 milligrams or .2 grams. Diamonds are most easily measured when they are loose, before they are mounted on a ring or other setting. However, they can still be roughly measured for size once they are mounted.
Carat Scale
Electronic diamond carat weight scales are the easiest and most common way to weigh a diamond. A loose diamond can be placed on this small digital scale, and an accurate carat weight is calculated. However, a mounted diamond cannot be measured on a scale.
Diamond Chart
A diamond chart can be used to measure the carat weight of a diamond. This is the most common tool for measuring a mounted diamond or a piece of jewelry that includes more than one diamond. The chart displays all the possible sizes of a diamond. A loose or mounted diamond can be held up to the chart to find the matching size, and this will tell the carat weight. A diamond chart can be found at a jewelry store or online.
Rice or Beans
Historically, diamonds were measured by carob beans, found in the Mediterranean, which is where the word "carat" comes from. If a diamond weighed as much as one carob bean, it was determined to be "one carob." In the Far East, people measured the weight of a diamond using rice: four grains of rice were equal to one carob, so if a diamond weighed the same as four grains of rice, it was one carat.
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