Contrary to popular belief, diamonds do not actually from coal, at least not usually. Coal is a relatively recent phenomenon in geological terms, as it required land plants to live, die, and then be compressed over millions of years. Diamonds are much, much older.The most common way for diamonds to form is in the Earth's mantle, in particular regions with just the right level of temperature and pressure and sufficient carbon in the surrounding rocks. These regions are most commonly found under the middles of continental plates. We of course could never dig that far down into the mantle; fortunately, volcanic eruptions occasionally bring up parts of the mantle containing these diamonds close to the surface, where we can extract them.Diamonds can also be formed by the collision of tectonic plates, particularly in subduction zones where an oceanic plate is pushed under a continental plate.Diamonds can come from meteorites, in one of two ways: Either they can be formed in space by collisions between asteroids, or they can be formed at the moment the meteorite hits the ground and releases all its kinetic energy.Finally, we can now synthesize diamonds by subjecting graphite or coal to extremely high temperature and pressure. These diamonds are usually small and not very pretty---but they are just as hard as any other diamond. (Large, attractive synthetic gemstones can be produced, they just aren't nearly as common.) In fact, most of the world's diamond consumption is in the form of synthetic diamonds, though not as gemstones but for industrial equipment.
https://geology.com/articles/diamonds-from-coal/
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Where do diamonds come from?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."
Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...
-
One way to support this thesis is to explain how these great men changed the world. Indeed, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) was the quintes...
-
At the most basic level, thunderstorms and blizzards are specific weather phenomena that occur most frequently within particular seasonal cl...
-
x=4cost y=2sint First, take the derivative of x and y with respect to t. dx/dt=-4sint dy/dt=2cost Then, determine the first derivative dy/dx...
-
Ethno-nationalism is defined as "advocacy of or support for the political interests of a particular ethnic group, especially its nation...
-
Both boys are very charismatic and use their charisma to persuade others to follow them. The key difference of course is that Ralph uses his...
-
Find the indefinite integral $\displaystyle \int \sec^4 \left( \frac{x}{2} \right) dx$. Illustrate by graphing both the integrand and its an...
-
The most basic attitude difference between Mr. Otis and Lord Canterville is their attitude toward the ghost. The attitude difference start...
No comments:
Post a Comment