# Large Diamond



## Harold_V (Jun 1, 2008)

I commented recently on a large diamond, and expected to get more than no response. It's for real, folks, assuming you can believe what is in the June edition of the Smithsonian Magazine. 

According to the Smithsonian, "The largest diamond so far found in the universe is the size of a small planet and located 50 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discovered the gigantic stone a few year ago, and they believe the 2,500-mile-wide diamond once served as the heart of a star."

Harold :!:


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## Irons (Jun 1, 2008)

Are you trying to ruin the diamond market that DeBeers has spent so much to promote?

At Earth orbital escape velocity, it will be a few centuries before the cargo ship gets back.


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## markqf1 (Jun 1, 2008)

Wouldn't that be called a white dwarf( technically speaking)?
It sounds like it's going to be hard for this one to turn into a black hole.  

Mark


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## Lou (Jun 1, 2008)

A diamond eh? 


I've heard of such things existing in the cores of long dead stars (the gravity takes all the fusion product carbon and squishes it into something pretty, and probably deadly radioactive!).


Honestly Harold, I would rather try my luck with the baseball sized diamonds that rain down on Neptune (I believe it's Neptune) as precipitation! 

You really like astronomy, eh Harold? Perhaps you're just like me and like all the sciences  well except psychology...who believes in that


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## markqf1 (Jun 2, 2008)

If you want to see some cool stuff, check out this months issue of discover magazine, page 14.


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## zauggart (Aug 4, 2008)

hi there 
yanno i was kind of wondering that , you know how on earth there are great spots where you can mine for gold or pan for gold and even diamonds. With this being said im sure everybody noticed that it seems more in certain spots than others. What i was wondering is with other planets etc wouldent there be some planets somewhere that have an over abundence of the stuff we call pm's . Here is an example if i may , do you think there could be a place out there somewhere where gold would be so abundant that its everywhere like sand and pebbles on a beach? I dare say it is possible for every element we know of and even the ones we dont! This was my $2.00 worth (inflation 2 cents goes nowhere)
thanks
Ian


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## Lou (Aug 4, 2008)

Well, I imagine the precious metals have a lot to do with how that planet was formed, how fluid it was when it was still hot, and also the gravity.

All of these factors are what pulled the great majority of "precious metals" towards the core of our planet, hence making them precious. Fact of the matter is, it's because they're so heavy and dense they are more likely to be found in the mantle and the core rather than the surface.

I also suppose proximity to the debris of a large supernova would also be a factor--those heavy elements all come from such events.


Lou


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## SapunovDmitry (Aug 4, 2008)

I would have put it in my treasure box.  

Actually it looks great, but i think there are even more wonders in our universe. Diamond planets are more common in universe than planets like ours. But still i would really wanted to take some photos on the surface of this planet,though it is likely to be composed of radioactive carbon mostly.


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## Harold_V (Aug 4, 2008)

Lou said:


> I also suppose proximity to the debris of a large supernova would also be a factor--those heavy elements all come from such events.
> 
> Lou



The book Red Giants and White Dwarfs, Robert Jastrow, discusses the formation of the heavy elements. 

Harold


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## viacin (Oct 14, 2008)

did you know:
1. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons (I wonder how much it brings per oz?)
2. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol (and you thought you had a drinking problem)

3. not related, but I found it while researching. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life.


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## Lou (Oct 14, 2008)

viacin said:


> did you know:
> 1. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons (I wonder how much it brings per oz?).




The easy answer to that is one ounce of neutron star material weighs exactly one ounce 

As for a fluid ounce? An insane amount to be sure!

Let's just say that were such a star cool enough to stand on, it would be quite inadvisable because the gravity for such a small (celestially speaking) and immensely dense body would be so strong a person would be flattened atoms thick!


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## viacin (Oct 14, 2008)

note to self : do not stand on neutron star.

I meant I wondered how much a oz of neutron star would be worth. Cuz, I got a few thimbles laying around..now all I need is a 100 million ton crane and a star ship....I smell a new business venture  who wants to invest? 1,000,000,000% returns guaranteed!

_note: returns not guaranteed._

lol, I also have a alaskan jumping horse for sale, and some extra beach front property in ohio I'm trying to get rid of. Anyone interested?


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## Lou (Oct 14, 2008)

Hey, I live in Ohio, where at is this beach front property ?


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## limestonecowboy (Oct 20, 2008)

Forget the neutron stars, If i ever got me a star ship i'd be straight off for the diamond planet with my mining gear. :shock: 


I also know lots about astronomy and astrophysics, and one thing is for sure,

Youve been sitting down for too long.....


Cos theres rings round uranus.. :lol:


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## viacin (Oct 20, 2008)

lmao... a tasteless classic. I've heard a few uranus jokes in my lifetime, none of which I can repeat around women, children, or small animals.

Ooh, and Lou...about that property. Just get in your car and start driving East untill you hit the ocean. If you see any signs that say "Now Leaving Ohio", ignore them, they are wrong. Let me know when you get there and I'll send you my paypal info 

I still have an alaskan jumping horse for sale if anyone is interested.


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## markqf1 (Oct 29, 2008)

Alaskan jumping horse.... Mmmm....
Does that mean you have a horse that could jump Alaska? :lol: 

Mark


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## viacin (Oct 29, 2008)

No. He's just in alaska, and he can jump. very rare. I'll take $3m for him. paypal, credit cards, and first born accepted.


_EDIT NOTE: horse fell, broke a leg, and I had to shoot him. I don't know if it did any good, because he's still kicking around alot and seems really mad. I suppose the gunpower helps heal the wound? If he's not better by morning I'm going to try again. Now asking $2.3m, discount price!_


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## viacin (Oct 29, 2008)

I have also aquired a very rare and exotic cat! I'm only asking $500 for her, as she has a very bad attitude and I found out last night that she is not housebroken!!

Here is her pic:
[img:600:800]http://www.bigbendgallery.com/uploads/files/Possum_cat_fooda.jpg[/img]


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## Lou (Oct 29, 2008)

That cat looks ill-favored and with a bad temper. Just the type I like! Would you take $300 for her?

I just hope she isn't dead when I get her


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## Oz (Oct 29, 2008)

Lou,

I would be more than happy to trade for PMs and lab equipment Lou. I will even discount them to $150 in lots of 6 or $200 each and guarantee live delivery. I’m sure you could make a profit on these as your neighbors will want to have one of these new rare pets.


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## Seamus (Oct 29, 2008)

I hear that for a price that a person could get a star named after himself/herself. I'd like that large diamond named after me. How about you? 

About that cat, I hope you have a leash for that puppy.


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## viacin (Oct 30, 2008)

lou, Some news. The cat ran off last night. When I went looking for her I found her outside in a garbage can with a great discovery! She had a huge litter of kittens with her! I have caged them all up in my living room and have decided to lower the price to $200 each, as they are not housetrained and are really starting to make a mess. here is another pic of the mama:
[img:500:375]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2098/2071824025_30ae792f5e.jpg[/img]

After I read your post, I figured you would just love one of these cats once you saw it so I decided this morning to send you one (a male) as a sample. He should arrive by UPS in a day or so. Please let me know what you think of him. Here is his pic (that's his favorite toy in the pic, I sent it too): 

[img:800:600]http://www.munchkinlandchihuahuas.com/possum_baby.jpg[/img] 

Oz and Seamus, I will send your cats off tomorrow morning, as they are VERY hard to get in a box. Let me know what you think of them!


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## Seamus (Oct 31, 2008)

We have cats running loose in our neighborhood just like the one you have Viacin. You can save on shipping charges. The ones we have around here can scare off small dogs.
I'm still looking for that large diamond with my name on it.


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## Oz (Nov 8, 2008)

Making diamonds from tequila.

The key to the surprising discovery is tequila's ratio of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, which lies within the "diamond growth region." The resulting diamond films could have inexpensive commercial applications as electrical insulators, say researchers Javier Morales, Luis Miguel Apátiga, and Víctor Manuel Castaño from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Morales is also with Nuevo León´s Autonomous University). 

Originally, the scientists were experimenting with creating diamonds from organic solutions such as acetone, ethanol, and methanol. They found that diluting ethanol in water resulted in high quality diamond films. The scientists then noticed that the ideal compound of 40 percent ethanol and 60 percent water was similar to the proportion used in tequila. 

"To dissipate any doubts, one morning on the way to the lab I bought a pocket-size bottle of cheap white tequila and we did some tests," Apátiga said. "We were in doubt over whether the great amount of chemicals present in tequila, other than water and ethanol, would contaminate or obstruct the process, it turned out to be not so. The results were amazing, same as with the ethanol and water compound, we obtained almost spherical shaped diamonds of nanometric size. There is no doubt; tequila has the exact proportion of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms necessary to form diamonds." 

In their experiments, the scientists grew the diamond films using "pulsed liquid injection chemical vapor deposition techniques." In a specially made device, they heated the liquid tequila to 280 ºC (536 ºF) to transform it into a gas. In a reaction chamber, they heated the gas to 800 ºC (1470 ºF) to break down its molecular structure, resulting in solid diamond crystals of about 100-400 nm. The crystals fell onto silicon or stainless steel trays, accumulating in a thin, uniform film. The high temperatures removed all of the tequila´s carbon impurities to result in pure diamonds. 

The final diamond film was hard and heat-resistant - properties that could make the diamond useful as coatings for cutting tools, high-power semiconductors, radiation detectors and optical-electronic devices, the scientists explained. They plan to begin industrial-scale applications around 2011, and hope to interest a tequila producer in widening its market beyond the traditional beverage. 

For now, the scientists are continuing to test different tequilas´ abilities to produce diamonds. They are also working on creating doped diamonds, which contain impurities, to serve as semiconductors.


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## viacin (Nov 8, 2008)

Oz said:


> For now, the scientists are continuing to test different tequilas´ abilities to produce diamonds.



I wonder if they need any help testing the tequila....


"Did you ever wonder what a diamond mine actually looks like? This mine is located in Mirny, Siberia and is 1200 meters deep! It is so deep in fact that the surrounding "air zone... is closed for helicopters" after "a few accidents when they were 'sucked in' by downward air flow..." Take a look at these aerial photographs for a sense of perspective. That large plateau in the north is the processed dirt from the mine." 

[img:400:305]http://www.exceldiamonds.com/diamond-tips/DiamondMine02.jpg[/img]
[img:400:266]http://www.exceldiamonds.com/diamond-tips/DiamondMine03.jpg[/img]
[img:400:275]http://www.exceldiamonds.com/diamond-tips/DiamondMine04.jpg[/img]

"Finally, for the kicker!!..
.........look for the tiny red arrow in the following photograph; it's pointing to a 220-ton rock-hauling truck more than 20' tall."

[img:400:300]http://www.exceldiamonds.com/diamond-tips/mirny_belaz.jpg[/img]


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## markqf1 (Nov 8, 2008)

Cool!
From the looks of the surrounding town, it creates alot of jobs and some rich folks too.  

Mark


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## Harold_V (Nov 8, 2008)

Oz said:


> Making diamonds from tequila.


That's a dreadful waste of tequila, especially when you consider it could easily be transformed into excellent margaritas. :wink: 

Harold


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## Oz (Nov 8, 2008)

Well I’m not a big fan of tequila, diamonds either for that matter. I am glad however that they are not using good bourbon.


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