11
votes
Accepted
Diamond at the core of Jupiter
I would think this is questionable, though we don't have a definitive answer yet.
We usually think Jupiter has a roughly solar composition, which according to the solar abundance measurments of ...
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10
votes
Can I use diamonds as fossil fuel?
Diamonds are expensive. Really expensive. Even "cheap" synthetic diamonds are orders of magnitude more expensive than conventional fossil fuel. By using them as fuel, you will increase ...
- 22.2k
9
votes
Why do crystals, like quartz and diamonds, form in different colors?
I'd like to elaborate of the Chemicals issue of Azzie Rogers' answer.
You can divide the chemical coloring into three main parts (there may be more, but these are the important ones):
Inclusions
A ...
- 22.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Could diamonds be formed from coal?
Craters actually can be identified by formation of high-pressure materials such as diamonds or stishovites and coesites (varieties of shocked quartz). A good example of this is the Popigai crater in ...
- 519
7
votes
Accepted
Why do diamond mines seem to always appear conical? Are the above-ground mines all that way? All at about the same angle?
The main hard rock sources of diamonds are either kimberlites or lamproites.
Many kimberlite and lamproite deposits occur as:
carrot-shaped, vertical intrusions termed 'pipes'
As the term "carrot-...
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7
votes
Are all natural diamonds made of organic carbon material?
Diamond isn't made of organic C at all. Organic matter would rather become oil, gas, coal or dissolve entirely.
C itself isn't very common in earth's mantle, but subducted eclogites and peridotites ...
- 452
5
votes
Accepted
Importance of meteorite impact craters in geology?
Impact diamonds
Yes, diamonds can form in meteorite impacts. For this several things need to happen:
A meteorite of the correct size and velocity,
The stuff it hits needs to contain carbon.
If you ...
- 22.2k
5
votes
Are all natural diamonds made of organic carbon material?
Not so fast, we can't say that 'no diamond is made of organic carbon'. There are two types of diamond, based upon the relative abundance of $^{12}C$ and $^{13}C$ isotopes. The 'lighter' carbon (...
- 14.1k
4
votes
Accepted
What does it take to make a diamond?
what is stopping someone from building a high-pressure, high-temperature system and dumping graphite in and making millions of diamonds?
What is stopping someone from making these HPHT machines ...
- 22.2k
4
votes
When diamonds "migrate" from deep underground to the surface, do they maintain pressure inside when there is no more pressure outside? If so, how?
The question is in regard to pressure confining a rare, deep-mantle formed mineral visible within a diamond inclusion. The pressure on the inclusion within the diamond crystal is really the pressure ...
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4
votes
Is it possible to form a diamond-sapphire hybrid?
Sapphires and ruby's are both aluminium oxide. sapphire melts at 2000 degrees and diamond synthesis can happen at 600 degrees. To coat around the sapphire, you would have to use multiple diamond seeds,...
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3
votes
Are all natural diamonds made of organic carbon material?
But did plants and trees of 300 million years ago sink so deep?
300 million years ago (Carboniferous) was a time when large amount of organic carbon was buried to a depth of several kilometres and ...
- 22.2k
2
votes
When diamonds "migrate" from deep underground to the surface, do they maintain pressure inside when there is no more pressure outside? If so, how?
One of the more interesting examples of diamond maintaining high pressure in its lattice is discussed in this answer from Space Exploration SE. Put briefly, Ice VII inclusions have been found in ...
- 2,561
2
votes
Can I use diamonds as fossil fuel?
Scarcity is the biggest limit, diamonds burn much like coal but unlike coal they are extremely rare.
artificial diamonds would still cost vastly more to make than digging up coal.
- 6,558
2
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Importance of meteorite impact craters in geology?
Nowadays impact craters are of little significance. Back in the Hadean era of early planetary crust formation, bolide impacts were the defining process of planetary evolution.
As for diamonds, one ...
- 14.1k
2
votes
Are all natural diamonds made of organic carbon material?
To make it even more difficult, recent research revealed existence of microdiamonds. Tiny diamonds (microscopic) were discovered inside kyanite or garnet within granulite rocks. So our explanation for ...
- 119
1
vote
Importance of meteorite impact craters in geology?
It's worth noting that our planet was formed by "meteorite" impacts and that our own moon is the (geologically important) result of Mars smacking into our planet, but let's focus on impacts after, say,...
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