DailyDirt: Contrary To Popular Belief, Diamonds Aren't Forever
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There are plenty of good reasons why gold is a valuable element that has been used as money instead of other substances in nature. Diamonds might have been an interesting form of carbon to use in a monetary system, but diamonds don't actually last forever. Here are just a few quick links on diamonds.- Candle flames can create diamond particles very briefly, but the diamonds are burned away in the process. About 1.5 million diamond nanoparticles are created every second as a candle burns, actually. [url]
- Diamond is thermodynamically unstable, but it was only recently discovered that it can actually lose mass slowly under UV light. Physicists found this out when they couldn't make a diamond-based UV laser that lasted for more than 10 minutes... [url]
- Diamonds have a high index of refraction that makes them sparkle. But there are possibly other forms of carbon that could be more sparkly -- if only they could be synthesized. [url]
- To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
Filed Under: candle, diamond, nanoparticles, refraction, uv laser
