Scientists GROW diamonds in just 150 minutes that could cost $2,000 less than the real thing … Can YOU spot the difference between lab-made and natural gems?

Scientists can now produce cost-effective, lab-grown diamonds in just 150 minutes that look identical to a natural diamond.

Researchers from the Republic of Korea have created tiny diamonds that could offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to natural diamonds.

The researchers combined silicon and a series of liquidized metals with carbon gasses under extreme temperatures that reduced them to carbon atoms that merged with the silicon to create the diamond.

In the US, a one-carat princess-cut diamond would cost an average of $2,500, whereas the lab-grown equivalent costs just $500. 

Diamonds take billions of years to fully form, making them more expensive for buyers, but the lab-grown alternative can save you thousands of dollars. 

To the naked eye, lab-grown diamonds don’t look any different than the natural alternative, but they do look drastically different under a microscope, which is why there is such a large gap in the price. 

The researchers mixed liquid gallium, iron, nickel and silicon into a crucible – a cup-shaped vessel used to melt substances – and heated it to 1,877 degrees Fahrenheit.

The metals in the crucible were exposed to methane and hydrogen gasses which dissolved into carbon gas.

When the remaining carbon gas merged with the silicon, it forced the carbon atoms to bond together, creating small crystals.

The study’s co-author Rodney Ruoff said that the silicon was the key to success, telling Science: ‘If we don’t add some silicon, we don’t get diamond.’

Ruoff and his team tested growing the crystal’s growth at 15 and 30 minutes, but found that there was only a small portion of the diamond crystal projecting out of the metal surface in the crucible.

The diamond had continued to grow when researchers checked at 60 minutes, but it wasn’t until 150 minutes that it was fully formed.

Despite the major breakthrough, the crystals are still only 100 nanometers across – about the size of a typical virus – but researchers believe they will be able to advance their methods enough to eventually create larger diamonds.

 ‘A lot of labs around the world are going to start cooking things up,’ Ruoff said.

If his prediction comes to fruition, it could revolutionize the already expanding lab-grown diamond industry. 

In 2015, lab-grown diamonds made up less than one percent of the global sales but that amount jumped to roughly 20 percent by the end of last year. 

This could be in response to the drop in price, with lab-grown diamonds costing a fraction of what people would shill out for a naturally grown one.

A two-carat round-cut diamond with a high color and clarity typically costs between $13,000 and $14,000, but lab-grown diamonds are a fraction of that price, costing $1,000.

‘Prices of lab-grown diamonds are falling. The reason is because of simple supply and demand. So many manufacturers are coming out and flooding the market with them, which is causing prices to dive,’ Mehul Sompura, CEO of Diamond Hedge, a diamond price comparison tool, told CBS MoneyWatch.

‘For the most part, it’s difficult to distinguish between the two, but it has to do with impurities, and with a microscope you can see growth patterns,’ Sompura said, adding: ‘You won’t get your money back, that’s the main problem.’

Researchers aren’t sure about how long it takes for diamonds to form naturally because it isn’t a continuous process. 

Diamonds may start to grow in the upper mantle of the Earth’s crust but the process could be interrupted by a change in climate conditions including temperature, the amount of pressure put on it or the amount of carbon they’re exposed to.

It’s for this reason that diamonds could sit for millions or hundreds of millions of years before they start growing again.

Lab-grown diamonds could provide a long-term alternative to blood diamonds – also known as conflict diamonds – which are mined in war zones and sold to finance ongoing war efforts.

It could also replace diamond mining which can destroy the surrounding land and release harmful chemicals.

For every carat of diamond mined, nearly 100 square feet of land is disturbed and 5,798 pounds of mineral waste is created, and the demand is estimated to increase to 292 million carats, according to Greenmatch, a sustainability and renewable energy organization.

‘Diamonds are very ingrained in our culture,’ Paul Zimnisky, a leading diamond industry analyst, told ABC News. 

‘I think, as humans, we just desire these rare, precious gemstones and metals. It’s not practical, but it makes us feel good.’