Making Diamonds Out of Peanut Butter

It may sound weird but still it looks like even peanut butter may shine one day. Currently scientists from the Bayerisches Geoinstitute in Germany are taking pains in finding what Earth's mantle is actually made of. Want they or not but it is closely connected with diamond formation. Though the composition of the last is known but it's still unbelievable how carbon can be transferred into the most solid stone in the world with the change of conditions.

The team of researchers lead by David Robson are studying possible constituents of lower mantle, because it's still unknown what it consists of. There exists much information on upper layers but lower layers are buried too deep under the ground to be studied. However, there are chambers in the laboratories where the conditions are very close to real. So they take certain materials and expose them to high pressure and high temperature to make them denser. Among the most odd materials peanut butter was taken. This is not a random choice. In fact this is a carbonaceous material which under heat and pressure turned into small diamonds.

Let's Shift from Natural to Synthetic Diamonds

About two weeks ago the Rapaport International Diamond Conference 2012 was held in Mumbai, where serious issues concerning Indian diamond market, pricing, new regulatory and compliance requirements that India is going to face soon had been discussed. But now it seems the time for a fest, GemFest if to be precise.

GIA has chosen Hong Kong as a place location for its GemFest at the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair where they will touch upon such topics as current status of synthetic gem diamonds. GIA's director of research and development Dr. Wuyi Wang is about to speak on September 19 and 22 about latest advancements in Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) methods of producing synthetic diamonds of white color.

There can be various motives that pushed GIA to hold the conference either it could be those undetected synthetic diamonds that made a huge stir this year being sold for natural or the event was planned prior to the occasion due to growing popularity of synthetic gem diamonds but it's evident that synthetic diamonds draw much attention of both diamantaires and mere customers.

Some words about the reporter: Dr. Wuyi Wang has got more than 20-years experience in studying diamond geochemistry and diamond treatment. You can see his publications in many geological and gemological issues.

Man-Made Diamonds: When Did They Become Known?

There is the claim that not many people have yet heard about man-made diamonds, do you think it's true? It seems created diamonds became a real hit for the past 10 or even more years.
The first man-made diamond was created long ago in 1953, when General Electrics built huge machines to grow diamonds for industrial purposes. For several years they kept it in a secret probably practicing their skills for producing high quality gems. When at last submitted to approval, created diamond were confirmed as the best alternatives for natural stones. This gave a start for a new era – era of man-made diamonds.

As it usually happens, there appeared many companies who also tried to pioneer an unknown field of science, what on the one hand created a tough competition and helped to increase the quality of a final product, diamond in this case. What is more, it also helped to make a shift from only industrial purpose of created diamonds they were intended for first, to aesthetic side of it by applying them in jewelry. Nowadays you can find Gemesis, Apollo Diamonds, New Age Diamonds and many more companies on the jewelry market offering quality gems of the same quality as mined diamonds.

Man-made diamonds are normally created by one of two methods, either HPHT (high pressure high temperature) or CVD (chemical vapor deposition). The first method neatly recreates the environment the same that is needed to form diamonds in the Earth's crust. First, the stones must be put under high pressure, next heated to a certain state, just like it happens under the ground. The second method is a chemical one that derives diamonds out of carbon plasma. No matter what the method is, it still helps to cultivate real diamonds, with the same properties of the natural stones. And man-made diamonds really can boast to gain an ever-growing popularity among diamond lovers, both men and women. Partly it's due to the cost of man-made diamonds. They are less expensive than natural gems, but they are not cheap! You feel the difference in cost when you opt for bigger or colored stones, which are so rare in nature and the price skyrockets unpredictable for them, from thousands of dollars to millions some times. This never happens with man-made diamonds, where the price grows proportionally to the size of a stone. This makes them so popular and sought-after.

So, do you remember when you first heard about man-made diamonds? Just recently or many years ago?

Gemesis: How Do They Grow Diamonds

Keeping with the previous post, there is a video about how Gemesis creates their diamonds. If you haven't yet got an idea of how the company stood on the path of filling the market with their stones by 2020, then after watching this video you will understand how the things are coming right. It's a common knowledge, that it's better to see once than hundred times to read about the technology, so enjoy watching and share you thoughts about it:

New Synthetic Diamonds Are to Break Stereotypes

It's a common knowledge that diamond is the most solid material in the world. In contrast to them, there are aerogels so ghostly and nearly weightless. Both are too incompatible, but this didn't stop the specialists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who took a challenge on creating the most lightweight diamond ever called diamond aerogel.

The adjective “diamond” skyrocketed aerogel price, while “aerogel” turned the diamond into a foam-like material. As expected, this unique substance possesses interesting properties that allow it to be applied in fields like structural engineering or optics.

Aerogel itself resembles dense air, it is porous and diffuse, while on touch it is like Styrofoam. Aerogels are used in space science to protect space suits. They are normally made by excessive drying of a conventional gel, meanwhile synthetic diamonds are created with the help of high pressure high temperature technology. That is why to create a mixture of two completely different substances scientists had to apply extremely high pressure up to 25.5 gigapascals, compare to 18 gigapascals needed to created synthetic diamonds. But there was a risk of substance collapsing, to prevent it scientists had to inject neon. It worked good!

Speaking about diamond aerogel properties, they are unique. It possesses solid but at the same time diffuse nanodiamond matrix. As you can see, it's transparent. Resulting aerogel's photoluminescence is bright and the whole substance is supple. While this sounds good, the usual question asked is where to apply this material. According to scientists, they will use diamond aerogel for mega powerful quantum information processors.

Diamonds Are Getting Expensive. What's the Alternative?

The value of diamonds continues its growth. As of February 2011, the stones are sold for almost 8% higher, if compared to just a few months ago. This growth tendency is expected to remain solid and can be explained by increased demand for rough diamonds. According to Petra Diamonds researches, the diamond mining and production is been aggressively developed to cover the demand. Recently, the company has announced its acquisition of the Finsch diamond mine from De Beers with its huge investments in the production growth. In the last six months, they’ve spent almost $48 million, which is 3 times more than a year before. The company is going to take Group production to more than 3 Mct by 2012, as opposed to their initial plan to do so by 2019.

Petra’s acquisition of the Finsch mine is certainly a big benefit to the company, although it shows that the the price for diamonds will continue to rise – the fact that demonstrates how expensive your diamonds can be in the near future.

As opposed to mined diamonds, there are laboratory created diamonds, the demand for which is gradually growing. While mined diamonds remain the prerogative of rich people, created diamonds fill in the remaining niche. More and more couples prefer created diamond engagement rings, which are apart from being cheaper are also eco-friendly. Nowadays, less people are questioning the properties of lab-grown diamonds, as they are proved to be equal to natural stones. Well, even the experts from GIA in the person of Thomas Moses, a senior vice president of the Gemological Institute of America, are about to speak on lab-grown diamonds in Botswana in late February. He will speak about the latest developments in the field of diamond growing by means of both high pressure high temperature (HPHT) technology and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The aim of the lecture is to enhance the education on the field of synthetic diamonds, not so popularized as mined ones. Frankly speaking, it's interesting to watch the tendency for man-made diamond demand growth.

Rare, Unique and Very Expensive... Because Pink

Among roses pink, white, red and yellow are common colors, but when somebody wants to have more unique flowers he can buy black, greenish or violet roses, which are more costly than usual ones. It's just the opposite with diamonds. White and yellowish are considered to be common while pink is very rare. That is why pink diamond are of great worth (like the one in a previous post).

Pink diamonds have always been sought after gems especially among celebrities. The latter are usually in the public eye, thus they want to be ensured public see them in the best possible way. Pink diamonds are just fine to let starlets look perfect. Add to this that fact that most pink diamonds weight less than three carats and you will understand how expensive are those that are larger. Only very rich people can afford to possess pink diamond jewelry. The example of such a diamond – six-carat pink gem – could be seen on Jennifer Lopez's finger when Ben Affleck proposed her. Victoria Beckham and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy can boast to have pink diamond wedding rings too.

Such solemn event like Oscar presentation can do without diamonds either. Stars like Beyonce, Mariah Carey and Nicole Kidman were spotted wearing pink diamond rings at latest Red Carpet event. The president of the Canadian Gemological Association Duncan Parker comment on this fact: “I definitely think celebrities are always looking for something rare and something unique, and among diamonds, pink diamonds are exactly that”.

However the majority of non-celebrated people do pay attention on a price tag while choosing a diamond, and pink diamonds are surely off the list. Such things like carat weight and color intensity determine the cost of pink diamond. 1 carat of pink costs more that of white diamond, and the price doesn't go proportionally, noway! The large pink diamond is, the more you'll have to pay, sometimes the price is just exorbitant (like here).

Those who have an affection for pink diamonds but find them to be too expensive can have a cheaper but non the less brilliant alternative – created pink diamonds. Like natural they possess different color depth from pale rose to intense pink. The price varies of course, however not to such a great extent like for naturally-formed diamonds. The main plus is that the price varies proportionally to the size of the diamond. For instance one carat of created pink diamond costs $5,000, then 2 carats will cost $10,000 accordingly. Be sure you won't buy mined 2 carat diamond for $10,000.

Created diamonds are hitting the jewelry market these days and more people start trusting gemstones grown in the laboratories. All diamonds created by man are certified by a number of leading gemological laboratories which proved cultured diamonds possess all the properties of naturally-occured gems: solidity, durability, wearproofness, toughness and all the rest characteristics typical for mined diamond gems. The thing is that diamonds created in the laboratory are formed under the same conditions as natural diamonds – under high temperature and intense pressure. So both gems are nearly identical but for the place and time of formation. And the price! Their price tag is pleasant to look at, and “affordable” is just the right word to describe lab grown diamonds.

If both naturally-formed and created diamonds are real ones what would you choose?