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kgd2006

Peanut Butter Into A Diamond?!? What a interesting fact.

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I was doing my daily browsing of interesting facts today, and came upon a random fact that deals with theory that can make peanut butter into a diamond. Although this theory is just to make a synthetic diamond (fake), if I had the tools to make the peanut butter in my fridge to a diamond ILL BE STINKING RICH...haha :P

Very interesting what technologe can do these days, I included a link below that has the full article about what Im talking about, I also included the into snippet of it.


Full Article Link Here

"The Diamond Deception"


PBS Airdate: February 1, 2000
Go to the companion Web site

____: During the following program, look for NOVA's Web markers which lead you to more information at our Website.

H. TRACY HALL, SR.: We can take some of this material and put it in this tube which is constructed out of graphite. And we will be heating this in a high-pressure, high-temperature press. And in the process, the peanut butter will be carbonized.

NARRATOR: Cooking peanut butter at temperatures of 3000 degrees under pressure of over a million pounds per square inch is a recipe that won't fill your stomach - but it might make you rich.

H. TRACY HALL, SR.: So, peanut butter to diamond.

NARRATOR: For nearly 50 years, scientists have known how to transform carbon rich substances into small industrial diamonds, but the trick to making gem quality stones has remained elusive - until now. Today, it may be possible to manufacture diamond jewels that are indistinguishable from the real thing - and it has the diamond industry worried.

MARTIN RAPAPORT: Just what if there is a way to synthesize diamonds that are non-detectable from natural diamonds? What if technology gives us the ability to make a synthetic diamond that no one knows is a synthetic?

NARRATOR: What will happen to the mystique of this billion-year-old stone if science finally solves the mystery of making the perfect gem diamond? For this most brilliant and treasured jewel, Mother Nature, it seems, no longer holds the patent.

____: Major funding for NOVA is provided by the Park Foundation, dedicated to education and quality television.

____: This program is funded in part by Northwestern Mutual Life, which has been protecting families and businesses for generations. Have you heard from the quiet company? Northwestern Mutual Life.

____: c|net.com. Helping you choose the right technology product.

____: And by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you.

NARRATOR: Deep under the earth - in mines scattered around the world - thousands of tons of rock are displaced each day in hopes of uncovering a few gem-quality diamonds.

STEPHEN LUSSIER: There's something magical about diamonds, they've captured the imagination of people for so long, I think it's things like, you know, the fact that they are three billion years old, the fact that it takes enormous effort to find diamonds in the world. It takes even more enormous effort to get them out. They have this magnificent way of dealing with light that separates them from all the other precious stones. They really are just a miracle of nature.

NARRATOR: But how would we feel if this miracle of nature could be copied, atom by atom, in a laboratory in just a few hours? Could any reproduction, no matter how faithful, ever compare with a natural stone?

ALEX GRIZENKO: A diamond is a diamond. If it's carbon and if it looks like a diamond, it's a diamond. It's not a simulant. And as we know, there are many simulants on the market. Cubic zirconia has been around for many years. A new simulant called moissanite has entered the marketplace. But these are all pretending to be carbon. They're not carbon. Hence, they're not diamonds.

NARRATOR: Diamonds have always invited fakery, which was often easy to spot. And while the techniques for producing look-a-likes have improved, these sparklers are still no closer to being diamonds than a piece of glass. Real diamonds are much more difficult to make - and nearly impossible to break. Their chemical composition was only discovered in the late 1700s, after pioneering chemist Antoine Lavoisier found a way to burn one. In this lab a real diamond is being heated to over 1500 degrees centigrade. After being dropped into liquid oxygen, the diamond burns completely. All that is left is carbon dioxide gas - proving that diamonds are nothing but pure carbon. The only pure carbon substance known in Lavoisier's time was graphite - the soft, black material in pencil lead.


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Why peanut better at all? If you could sustain that much pressure and temperature, any organic matter might turn into diamond. After all, the original diamonds were obtained from coal which is a form of carbon.

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Although this theory is just to make a synthetic diamond (fake), if I had the tools to make the peanut butter in my fridge to a diamond ILL BE STINKING RICH...haha :P

Even if you have a jar of peanut butter the size of your fridge, I doubt the resulting diamond would be bigger than the size of a louse. And the energy required would make your electric bill go way up. So I don't think you'll be any richer after you sell the synthetic (which means cheaper) diamond.

But anyway, back to the article. How can they "carbonize" peanut butter? Fission and fusion must be involved in order to turn one element into another element, i.e. carbon. If this process does not include fission/fusion, there must be some waste product from the left overs in the peanut butter. Can this process be used to turn pure hydrogen into carbon and into diamond?

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As an earlier post alluded to, any carbon-containing compound could theoretically be sufficient to create diamonds. I should say that there is nothing fake about synthetic diamonds. Diamonds are nothing more than a form of carbon. Regardless of how it was made, if it is molecularly similar, then there is nothing fake about it. But, really, why stop there. The idea of 'alchemy' died a long time ago (you know turning lead into gold). But considering how advanced our technology has become, it really has come full circle to alchemy. It is certainly possible, now, to change lead into gold (in miniscule and cost-ineffective amounts).

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I agree with everyone else. Turning PB into a diamond is possible but the cost would out weigh the benefits. I think it would result in a huge loss of money and a lot of useless equipment. Not only that but to apply that much pressure to something requires more equipment than I think is possible in any home.

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-- peanut butter into a diamond?

 

Peanut Button Into A Diamond?!?

 

Replying to kgd2006

 

my father is H. Tracy Hall, the inventor of the man made industrial diamond.

The diamonds he makes with carbon (which is found in peanut butter) are not "fake". They are in fact REAL and identical to natural diamonds mined from the earth, in every aspect. A spectrometer analysis of his man-made-diamond is exactly the same as a naturally mined diamond. There is no difference. They are just as durable and strong.

 

However, the diamonds produces are NOT a gem type diamond, but are industrial type diamonds (black) which are used in tools, saws, drills, grinders and such. They are used to drill tunnels through mountains, and in drilling for oil. It is a multi billion dollar industry, and his invention has changed the industrial world!

 

He passed away yesterday in his home, July 25th at age 88. His greatest accomplishment wasn't in making diamonds, he didn't care about striking it rich! He lived a humble existance, and was satisfied with the roof over his head and the food in his belly. It was his deep sense of values, a strong belief in his religion and his sweet and gentle influence on everyone he knew that made him great! We'll miss him dearly!

 

-reply by fixthepain

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