Source: Nature: "Diamonds"
Major corporate support for the Nature collection was provided by Canon U.S.A. and SC Johnson. Additional support was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the nation’s public television stations.
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A diamond is a transparent gem made of carbon, one of Earth's most abundant elements. Most diamonds were formed billions of years ago in the molten rock of Earth's mantle. It is here that the right amount of pressure and heat transforms carbon into a diamond. In this video segment from Nature, the formation of a diamond is further explained.
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Diamonds are minerals that are valued for their durability, beauty, and rarity. They form deep in the earth under conditions of extreme heat and pressure, and are brought to the surface of the earth by the forces of volcanism and weathering. Generally, diamonds - and the rocks they’re found in - are very old. Studying diamonds, therefore, can help scientists reconstruct the processes that were central to the formation of the earth itself.
The physical properties of a diamond are determined more by the crystal structure of the diamond than by its composition - consider that diamond and graphite, despite their vastly different physical properties, are both composed of pure carbon. Every mineral is characterized a particular type of crystalline structure that is largely responsible for its physical properties.
MK: The secret of a diamond lies in the carbon bond. Carbon is one of the most plentiful substances known to science. We find carbon in plants, animals, in our bodies – carbon everywhere, and yet, diamonds are some of the rarest, most beautiful of all substances. What’s the link? The link is the extremely rare environmental conditions that take ordinary carbon –coal for example, and turn it into diamonds. We’re talking about deep inside the earth’s crust; we have the pressures, the temperatures sufficient to distort the bonding angles of the carbon atom.
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