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| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diamonds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Main Page Chem X Home May |
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| Creating Diamonds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diamonds have long been a sign of strength and love. But where do they come from? What are they made of ? Why are they so strong? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Diamonds come from mines around the world. They first apeared in India, then Brazil and most recently large deposits were found in South Africa. Diamonds are formed deep in the earths crust in a part called the mantle. The are formed by extreme heat and pressure and then they are pushed up through the mantle by things like volcanos or they move up slowly with the natural shifts in the earths crust. |
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| The graphic below shows the process by which diamonds are made and then transported to the earths crust. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Diamonds are carbon, compress so that it is as concentrated as it can get. Carbon, has six electrons and six protons. Four of the six electrons can bond with other atoms. Graphite, pencil lead, is also carbon. It occurs closer to the earths surface than diamonds do and only three of the elctrons bond with other atoms. The result is layers that are tightly bonded themselves, but not tightly bonded with eachother, so graphite is soft, as the layers slip and slide over eachother. In diamonds, all four of the electrons that can bond, do. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Diamonds are the hardest and strongest metal known. This has, in part to do with the way they are put together.First of all the carbon bond is very strong and that has a lot to do with the properties of the diamond. But the main reason is that each atom is bonded to four other atoms and each are the same distance apart. This make a very hard, stable structure. Diamonds are in fact so hard that it is nearly impossible to measure how hard they are because the only comparsion is themselves.In 1822 Rriedreich Mohs developed a hardness scale, saying that the minerals with high numbers can scratch the ones with lower numbers. When the scale get to corundum, the next hardest before diamonds, it goes up exponentially to diamonds. Click here to see the scale. The pictures below each show how carbon atoms bond to make a diamond. |
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| Most people think that diamonds come in only one color. The clear, glass like color we usually see in engagement rings. But the truth is, diamonds come in many colors. From violet and blue to soft yellows and pinks. Each of the colors are created by adding different impurities, such as other elements or flaws in the crystal shape of the diamond. Boron makes a diamond blue, like the one below. Nitrogen makes a diamond appear yellow. For more information on how a diamond gets its color click here . |
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| Some diamonds have fluorescent and phosphorescent properties, meaning they change color or glow in different kinds of light, such as ultra-violet. Click here to find out more. |
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| With todays technology companies can make their own diamonds from scratch. Click here to find out more. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||