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Diamonds are not forever !
One of the more expensive ways of producing carbon dioxide is to burn a diamond. This is precisely what French chemist Antoine- Laurent Lavoisier did in 1772. F irst he and some fellow chemists pooled their funds to buy a diamond, then, they heated it to a high enough temperature to burn it. The result was a container of very costly carbon dioxide, demonstrating a link between diamonds and carbon. By the end of the eighteenth century, British chemist Smithson Tennant and French chemist Guyton de Morveau had shown that diamonds are a form of pure carbon that can be converted to graphite.Graphite and carbon are allotropes of carbon-two forms of the same element that differs only in their crystal structure. A diamond’s atoms bond to one another in a tightly packed tetrahedral arrangement making it very dense and very hard. But the more stable form of the element is the lowly graphite, in which the atoms are arranged in loosely stacked but durable layers. Over millions of years, in fact, diamonds tend to turn into graphite. In geologic terms then, diamonds are not forever.
If diamonds can be turned into graphite, can graphite be turned into diamonds? Onty by applying temperatures and pressures great enough to break up the graphite and pack the carbon atoms into the dense tetrahedral shape.
Chemists tried to do this all through the nineteenth and early twenteth centuries but could not achieve he necessary conditions.Then in 1955 scientists at Gmeral Electric succeeded in reaching pressures of 100,000 atmospheres and temperatures of 2,5000C . Using chromium as a catalyst they succeeded in turning graphite into diamonds
In 1962, at still higher temperatures and pressures they did the same thing without the aid of a catalyst. That had shown that Lavoisier’s conversion process of two hundred years earlier was reversable though considerably easier in one direction than the other.
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Contributor's Note
This intel reflects only one of my activities. I also write about and/or have websites on Vespa Scooters, Lambretta Scooters, Hardy Banana plants, Medical memorabilia, reborn baby dolls and much more. Hope you enjoyed the read, Philip Davey
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This intel was contributed by Phildave
Phildave
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May, 2012
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