DailyDirt: Diamonds, Diamonds Everywhere

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Creating artificial diamonds could lead to some really interesting semiconductor materials -- or even some insanely hard touchscreen displays (no more scratches!). Fortunately, synthesizing diamond-like materials is getting cheaper and easier, but at the same time, we've also discovered significantly large diamond deposits. But will diamonds still be included in engagement rings when the market prices plummet? Aluminum used to be the most expensive metal in the world... but it's no longer as highly regarded as it once was. Here are just a few links on one of our favorite allotropes of carbon.

• Forget OxiClean. The "power of diamonds" can help clean away tough stains in every laundry load. Nanodiamond particles in laundry detergents can dislodge dirt from fabrics without using hot water -- saving energy and adding some sparkle. [url]
• There's a recently de-classified deposit of impact diamonds in Russia -- and it's so big that it's estimated that this resource could serve the world's diamond needs for 3,000 years. These impact diamonds are twice as hard as traditional gemstones because they're formed when a carbon-rich meteor collides with the earth and the resulting explosion creates this unique material. [url]
• Diamonds aren't as rare as most people think they are -- if you're willing (or able) to travel a few thousand light years, you can find a whole planet made of diamond. A carbon-rich planet that is probably crystalline (and hence diamond-like) orbits the pulsar J1719-1438, and it's the most dense planet seen so far. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

Filed Under: allotrope, carbon, diamonds, impact diamonds, laundry, nanodiamond, oxiclean, planet, russia