How Is a Diamond Formed?
Other People Are Reading
-
Natural Diamonds
-
Natural diamonds are diamonds which are formed geologically deep within the earth. Natural diamonds are formed about 100 miles beneath the earth's surface where carbon rich rocks are melted by the heat of the earth's mantle, a layer of liquid lava rock, and are compressed by the enormous pressure of the many miles of earth above them. As the earth churns, the heated rock may move upwards away from the heat and cool over time, which can form diamonds if the conditions are just right. It takes hundreds of thousands of years for the process to take place.
Lab-Created Diamonds
-
While naturally occurring diamonds have been prized for their rarity, brilliance and hardness for centuries, scientists have recently discovered ways to emulate the natural process of diamond creation. This allows for the creation of synthetic, or cultured, diamonds. Man-made diamonds are created by putting a graphite and carbon mix together with a small seed diamond under extreme pressure similar to what it would experience in the earth's crust. The machines pressurize the core to over 800,000 pounds per square inch and heat it to over 1000 degrees. After several days, a diamond is created. Modern lab-created diamonds are physically identical to natural diamonds, but natural diamonds are often preferred for jewelery.
-
Meteorites
-
Diamonds can also come from extraterrestrial origins. Meteorites are bits of rock, metals and other materials that fall to earth from outer space. When a meteorite strikes, it creates a sudden impact that generates a large amount of heat and pressure. This can create small diamonds in a resulting crater. Diamonds can also possibly be deposited by meteorites that already contain diamonds formed somewhere in outer space. If a large enough meteorite containing diamonds strikes the earth, some of the diamonds it contains may survive the impact.
-
