A Diamond is one of the two natural minerals that are produced from carbon. The other mineral is Graphite. Even though both of these minerals are produced from the same element, carbon, they have totally different characteristics. One of the most obvious difference is that Diamond is hard and Graphite is soft. The Diamond is considered to be the most hardest substance found in nature. It scores a perfect ten in hardness.
Because of its hardness a tiny Diamond is used as a cutting and drilling tool in industry. Even the Greeks called the Diamond “adam as” which means unconquerable. Diamonds also conducts heat better than any other mineral. Diamonds come in several different color shades such as, yellow, blue, green, or pink.
One reason why a Diamond has different colors is through the processes involving heat and radiation. Another reason is that 99. 5% of a Diamond is Carbon and the rest are different trace elements. These 0. 5% of elements are the reason why a Diamond has different color shades. For example Nitrogen causes it to have a yellow tint, and Boron a blue shade.
The pink color in some Diamonds are thought to be caused by deformation of the atomic structure of the diamond crystal. A pure Diamond, which would be 100% carbon, is colorless Diamonds were created million years ago, when the earth was formed, the material experienced pressure of 5 million times the atmosphere at sea level and temperatures between 1000~1200 degrees. These conditions caused carbon in the layers inside the planet to crystallize into diamonds. The diamonds moved up to the earth’s surface through volcano eruptions. This is why many Diamond mines are near volcanoes. Diamonds occur in two types of rock: Kimberlite and Lam prolite.
The Essay on Carbon The King Of Elements
When you look at the periodic table, you see a lot of letters, some numbers, different colors, and areas divided into rows and sections. There is one element on the periodic table that stands out above and beyond others, an element you should be greatful for it's discovery! That element, of course, being the one and only atomic number 6 Carbon! Now, you might be asking yourself what is so special ...
Diamonds are mostly found in South Africa, India, Brazil, Russia, Australia, and Arkansas. Right now about 100 million carats are mined each year. Today the largest cut Diamond in the world is the Cillian I at 530. 2 ct.
The unit cell of a Diamond is cube. Five carbon atoms form tetrahedral at the cube corners, at the centers of each of the cube faces, and at four sites within the cube. The carbon atoms are located at the center of each tetrahedron. The carbon tetrahedral are covalently bonded, which explains why diamonds are extremely hard. The toughness of the Diamond comes from four planar directions of weakness, it is called octahedral cleavage.
These cleavages are at 45 degrees at the corner of the cube. Diamond cutters must be very careful not to strike in any of the four cleavages. Because if the Diamond cutter strikes one of the cleavages, the diamond would split in half. These are the 5 steps on how to cut a Diamond: Step 1: Shaping the rough stone.
Step 2: The top pyramid rounded. Step 3: Facing begins. Step 4: More facing. Step 5: Finish the product with 58 facets placed with mathematical precision so that light passing through the stone may reflect with a maximum of brilliance.
