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DIAMOND HISTORY
The Natural History and
Properties of Diamonds
Since long ago, people everywhere have
valued the rare, beautiful, shiny, sparkling things which they
occasionally found on the ground, in the river, and on the
mountains. These things have been treasured, used as gifts or
money, and even valued for bringing good luck and warding off
demons. As more of these came to light, people noticed
differences in their quality- diamonds were more rare and more
beautiful than quartz crystals or other sparkling stones. As
civilization developed, this demand naturally created a diamond
market for the same purposes as other markets: to regulate
supply and demand.
There are many stones which are also sparkling and valuable, but
diamonds have become the king of gems, long believed to
symbolize purity, strength, power, beauty, and good forces which
can drive away evil. Why is this? Perhaps we can learn something
from the basic chemistry. Diamonds are almost the only high
class gems which are a pure element- pure carbon. Most of the
others are combinations of various elements from the over 100
pure elements of the periodic table.
The world’s oldest diamond mine has been found in India. From
records found in Rome and the Middle East, we know these
diamonds were exported there- possibly as long ago as the 8th
century B.C. Words for diamonds and diamond trading have been
found in writing as early as the 4th century B.C. In the 1st
century B.C. a lot of people were already involved in the
diamond business, including Arabs, Persians, and even some
adventurous Europeans like Vasco Da Gama. In the Hebrew Bible,
the word JAHALOM means “diamond.” Scholars assume this word is
related to ADAMAS and ADAMANT, which means “very hard,” or
“hardness.” In very old English and French, it is suspected that
the word DYAMAUND means “diamond.” The word as it is spelled
today came into usage in the 16th century.
Nature and Properties of Diamonds
Diamonds are the hardest single substance in the world. However,
they are not unbreakable. Things which are very elastic are
unbreakable, and diamonds are certainly not elastic. It is their
rigidity which gives them their hardness. Think about an old
cowboy or cops and robbers movie. The criminals have opened the
safe and taken out what looks like a big diamond. But is it? To
test, they smash it with a big rock- surprise, it breaks! So
they know they were cheated, right? Actually, no. A real diamond
would break just the same. Gold, for example, will NOT break,
because it is elastic- you can saw it in half easily. However,
only a diamond-based saw can cut a diamond. Cleaving a diamond
is also possible, along the plane of the natural crystal.
Hardness is measured on the MOHS scale, from 1 to 10. Diamonds,
naturally, are 10. There is another system called the KNOQS
hardness scale on which diamonds usually measure from
5,700-10,400. To compare, another very hard substance, silicon
carbide, is only 1,875-3,980 on the same scale.
Heat Conductance of Diamonds
Diamonds
:
20 Watts Per Square Centimeter
Silver
: 4.18 Watts Per Square Centimeter
Copper
: 3.70 Watts Per Square Centimeter
Gold
:
3.11 Watts Per Square Centimeter
As you can see from this chart, diamonds are an even better
conductor of heat than most of the better metals. This is
important in many applications which we already use and in some
which will become more and more important in the future. For
example, when you go to the dentist, he uses a diamond drill
which is both hard and conducts the heat from the drilling away
from your teeth. A normal drill would generate so much heat it
would kill the root of your tooth even if this was not
necessary.
In the kitchen, some companies have invented a diamond-coated
pan. This pan heats oil and anything else incredibly quickly- so
that your fried eggs will be finished almost immediately. Of
course, it’s also very easy to clean and never gets scratched
like Teflon. Furthermore, the diamond is not reactive and
doesn’t get into your food like aluminum or copper.
In medicine, diamond knives are used for very fine cutting,
especially in cosmetic surgery, because they do not leave big
scars and have very fine control. They make even thinner cuts
than lasers.
In your stereo and computer equipment, you are probably already
using diamonds- for example, a well-known diamond product is the
DVD. Diamond chips may be coming soon, and there are many other
IT products which need diamonds.
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