Many of the folk wisdom reflects the property of one of the most beautiful stones on earth: “pure water diamond”, “hard as a diamond,” “diamond shine”, etc. And one of the properties is density. Diamond, the name of which, according to one version, came from the ancient Greek "almas" - indestructible, is a precious stone, but it is used not only in jewelry. We will figure out what density depends on and what role it plays in the "life" of the stone.
A bit of history
There are many legends and beliefs associated with the amazing stone. And one of them - diamond brings good luck to its owner. But only winners in life can own it. And the famous people who wore it include Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar and the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Fourth.
Europe recognized the diamond around the 5-6th century BC. e., but only 550 years ago, he received his incredible popularity. After all, it was then that they learned to cut it correctly in order to maximize the properties of a diamond. And all because of its incredible properties - enormous strength, while the density of the diamond is 3,500 kg / m 3 . Which of the other well-known minerals can boast the same characteristics?
But the fact that many people consider diamond a mineral that cannot be broken has led to the loss of rare and beautiful stones. For example, in 1476, during the war between the Duke Karl the Bold (one of the first owners of faceted diamonds as a diamond cut) and King Louis XI, the king's mercenaries managed to break into a tent on the battlefield. They were struck by the placers of diamonds located there. They decided to check the authenticity of the stones with a hammer, and a large number of expensive and beautiful stones were turned into dust by them.
Diamonds became “girls' friends” only in the middle of the fifteenth century, thanks to Agnes Sorel, the favorite of Karl the Seventh. Now you know the name of the one who made many men "unhappy."
Physical properties
An ignorant man holding a diamond in his hands is unlikely to guess what kind of treasure he got. The raw crystal looks very simple and nondescript. And most often the mineral is found in nature in the form of fragments of irregular shape. Well, transparent, well, with high light refraction, which varies from 2.417 to 2.419. What is so special about it? Only a sample of an octahedral shape (two pyramids are interconnected by a base) can attract the attention of a layman by the play of light on its faces. It is high refraction that determines what we call the diamond brilliance, and there is no birefringence. With prolonged exposure to the sun, most stones begin to glow in the dark.
And the diamond is known for its incredible hardness - 10 out of 10 points on the Mohs scale. In other words, the hardest mineral known on earth. But what is the density of the diamond, you can easily find in the directory. But before we look, try to guess what it should be? Based on its hardness - quite high. But here, diamond shows its paradox.
High hardness is due to the special structure of the crystal lattice of a cubic shape, where in each corner there is a carbon atom. Another atom is placed in the center of the face, and 4 atoms inside the cube. Thus, those atoms that are located in the center of the face are common to two neighboring cells, and those at the vertices are common to eight. This method of packing an atom is the densest.
The crystal breaks with the formation of smooth parallels (the so-called perfect cleavage). The kink in this case varies from conchoid to splinous (of course, not by cleavage).
We look in the directory: the average density of diamond is 3,500 kg / cubic meter. It can vary from 3.47 to 4.55 grams per cubic centimeter. Not so much for such a solid mineral. According to Razval, the grinding hardness is 140,000.0.
Color spectrum
Another physical property that I would like to mention is the color of the stone. And color has a significant effect on the density of diamond. The most common ones are colorless or yellowish, with a bluish or brown tinge. Colored crystals are much less common in nature , but color variations are very diverse: pink and red, orange and bright yellow, green and blue, purple and cognac, cherry, gray and even black. Another name for colored diamonds is fantasy. Although the most expensive were and remain transparent, colorless or with a bluish tint, but the demand for stones of rare shades is growing, which means that the price for them is also rising.
In addition, we are accustomed to the fact that diamonds are transparent, but they are also opaque. Color and transparency directly depend on the chemical composition of the crystals. One more regularity was noticed: the darker, the lower the density of diamond (g / cm 3 ).
Chemical composition and properties
As already mentioned, the mineral is 96.0–99.8% carbon, whose atoms are interconnected in a cubic lattice. In addition, other chemicals are also found in the crystal - oxygen, nitrogen, boron and silicon, aluminum and manganese, iron and copper, titanium and zinc, nickel, etc. Olivite and chromite, graphite and pyrope, enstatin, and others are possible.
Quite often you can find crystals with water and carbonic acid, carbon dioxide and other substances in a gaseous state. Most often, impurities are placed closer to the periphery of the crystal.
As for the chemical properties, the diamond is very resistant to acids and alkalis, it is not wetted by water, but it is easily covered with a greasy film, even from ordinary hand touch. This property is used to determine the real stone. The mineral remains chemically inert until it is exposed to high temperature.
Diamond burns at a temperature of 850 ° C, with the formation of carbon dioxide. And when heated without air access more than 1000 ° C, it turns into an allotropic modification - graphite.
What else does cost depend on?
The diamond price range is very wide, and the cost depends on many characteristics. But in any case, the price for one carat (0.2 g) is always indicated:
- Cut: the highest rated of them is 57 faces, or it is also called Tolkovsky's cut. For small diamonds - 17 and 33. The remaining cuts are considered fancy, and their price is much lower. But still, we’ll list other types of cuts: “Baryon”, “Quadrillion”, “Princess”, “Marquis”, “Rose”, “Briolet”, “Pear”, “Oval”, “Heart”, “Asher”, “Emerald” "," Radiant, "" Trillant. "
- Transparency: if transparency is perfect in diamonds, there are no cracks, including microinclusions, then the price instantly increases by an order of magnitude, or even more.
- Stone size: this is not about carats, for example, a diamond weighing one carat in diameter can be 6.5 mm, and if the other indicators are also high, then the cost can be 10-12 thousand dollars per carat.
- Color. It all depends on the trends of fashion and the vagaries of the client. But the most valuable are still considered colorless and with a bluish tint.
Application
Having studied the properties of diamond, we can safely say: the stone is simply unique. But not only in jewelry, it is now used. Science and industry take part of the world's reserves of stone for their needs. Only they use stones small or defective.
What properties are valued by science and industry:
- high thermal conductivity;
- hardness;
- transparency (the ability to transmit UV and IR rays);
- crystal structure (may be a conductor, an insulator). It withstands high voltage, sudden changes in temperature.
Medicine did not stand aside, using diamonds in surgery. Scalpels are being produced now, the blade of which is diamond. Sharpening such blades makes the cuts ultra-thin. In laser installations, diamonds are used to burn wounds. In laboratories with hazardous chemicals they put diamond windows.
Construction and repair tools for both domestic and professional use - saws, metal knives, milling cutters and glass cutters, grinding wheels and much more - are coated with diamond chips to increase the useful life. Tunnels are laid using the so-called roadheader. His knives are covered with a layer of diamond chips.
In the school curriculum
A characteristic such as diamond density is found even in the school curriculum. They study it in a subject such as physics, in the section "Fundamentals of Molecular Kinetic Theory" in grade 10. And the problem is being solved. It sounds completely like this:
There is a diamond, the density in kg / m3 of which is 3500. How much will the atoms of a substance occupy in the amount of 10 22 ? (Myakishev's book of problems). It turns out that the properties of diamonds are still being studied at school. And not only in this booklet there are similar problems. Such a condition record is also possible:
- the density of diamond is 3500. How much will 10 22 molecules take?
Space news
Until recently, everyone was convinced that the biggest diamond was the "Star of Africa." Its mass is 3106 carats. How much, everyone would have thought, and astronomers found a small diamond in the constellation of the Snake, whose mass is 10 31 carats! This is a real giant. Of course, no one was holding it in his hands, but scientists are sure that this white dwarf consists entirely of superdense crystalline carbon. Here is a diamond with a diameter of 55,000 km in diameter.