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SLAC Experiment Proves It Rains Diamonds On Uranus and Neptune (cosmosmagazine.com)
The Washington Post reports:
On Uranus and Neptune, scientists forecast rain storms of solid diamonds. The gems form in the hydrocarbon-rich oceans of slush that swath the gas giants' sold cores. Scientists have long speculated that the extreme pressures in this region might split those molecules into atoms of hydrogen and carbon, the latter of which then crystallize to form diamonds. These diamonds were thought to sink like rain through the ocean until they hit the solid core. But no one could prove that this would really work -- until now.
Cosmos reports: The Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument at SLAC gives scientists the tools to investigate the extremely hot, dense matter at the centers of stars and giant planets... A team led by Dominik Kraus from the Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf research centre in Germany subjected plastic to shockwaves by exposing it to the intense energy produced by SLAC's X-ray free-electron laser, known as the Linac Coherent Light Source. The experiment caused almost all the carbon atoms in the plastic to combine into diamond-like structures a few nanometers wide... Astronomers think that the forces at work deep in the frozen mantles of Uranus and Neptune are likely so powerful that each of the diamonds formed could weigh millions of carats. It is also possible that the solid cores of both planets are coated with a thick diamond outer layer.
The experiment also suggests an easier (and cleaner) way to produce diamonds in a lab, which can then be used for semiconductors, drill bits and solar panels.
Cosmos reports: The Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument at SLAC gives scientists the tools to investigate the extremely hot, dense matter at the centers of stars and giant planets... A team led by Dominik Kraus from the Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf research centre in Germany subjected plastic to shockwaves by exposing it to the intense energy produced by SLAC's X-ray free-electron laser, known as the Linac Coherent Light Source. The experiment caused almost all the carbon atoms in the plastic to combine into diamond-like structures a few nanometers wide... Astronomers think that the forces at work deep in the frozen mantles of Uranus and Neptune are likely so powerful that each of the diamonds formed could weigh millions of carats. It is also possible that the solid cores of both planets are coated with a thick diamond outer layer.
The experiment also suggests an easier (and cleaner) way to produce diamonds in a lab, which can then be used for semiconductors, drill bits and solar panels.
Here it goes, down the drain.
I always hear "this star is made of diamond" or "some such astronomical thing is diamonds" Having a metric crapton of carbon in one spot is not necessarily a diamond, is it? If you took a scoop of the "diamond rain" from Neptune and put it at earth room temperature/pressure, would it stay as a crystal or would it become a gas?
Also my new favorite measurement qualifier is "Earth Room". To differentiate it from a "Neptune Room" or a "Mars Room".
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Oh, wait, that was her belly. Never mind.
Who bought them? Elon? Bastard.
I tend to rant.
Isn't the a Rap song?
"There's a million carat diamond out there and you let me suffer with this??? You broke piece of shit!"
This experiment shows that it is *possible* for diamonds to form under conditions that are *believed* to exist in gas giants. No direct evidence of such diamonds is actually observed, let alone "proof" that they exist. I'm not trying to cast doubt on the results, I just think we need to be careful about using the proper terminology.
I like the original "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" better than the Neptune version.
Looks like it's time to conquer Uranus.
Okay, so, suppose for the sake of argument that we can easily get to and from Uranus and Neptune, and this diamond rain turns out to be fact.
How'd you go fishing for diamonds there?
Now to mining industry will do anything to prevent space travel or space excavation, because they know their precious little rocks will be worthless.
They'll "corner the market", and won't release them, like they do with Earth diamonds, thus keeping the price artificially HIGH on nothing more than compressed/heated carbon rocks. Diamonds...yeah, that will shut her up! (Ron White)
The first expedition to Uranus and Neptune is being assembled and trained even as we speak. They will learn to operate those rockets and shuttlecraft. One notable aspect is that the crew is entirely female, and each of them swears it's not about the diamonds
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
She thought that was very nice in principle, but she wouldn't let me look to verify the fact.
... Taco Bell's experiments have proved that something else rains from Uranus.
Lab made diamonds are going to be indistinguishable from natural ones to any casual observer (and probably many trained ones as well) and far less expensive.
Not "are going". Just "are".
As of 2017, lab-grown diamonds aren't used for science only anymore.
You can actually buy rings containing lab-grown diamonds.
And indeed, lab grown diamonds' chemical structure is literally the same as mined diamonds' - in both case it's the same exact dense crystal of carbon atoms - and thus they have virtually the same chemico-physical properties.
Only the small variations present in the diamonfs (like imperfections, extra doping elements, etc.) aren't exactly the same in both types.
And the latter is actually *better controlled* in lab diamonds - meaning you can have a better choice of colors provoked by controlled amounts of impurities.
And they are already an order of magnitude cheaper.
The only thing keeping diamond mining afloat is their use a gemstone and a clever bit of marketing by the diamond companies to convince stupid young men that they need to fork over thousands of dollars for something that can be made for a few dollars in a lab.
Plus tight control of the market by a monopoly, so that the mined variety can be made artificially scarce and valued at an abnormal price.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
The Washington Post must have meant cold sores
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Who will be collecting the diamonds from Uranus?
If you took a scoop of the "diamond rain" from Neptune and put it at earth room temperature/pressure, would it stay as a crystal or would it become a gas?
Just like any diamond on Earth's surface, it will slowly convert into graphite. Diamond is an unstable allotrope of carbon on Earth and always decays to solid graphite regardless of how it was formed. So despite claims to the contrary diamonds are not forever, at least on Earth. However, since the diamond decay process is a lot slower than the human decay process most people don't worry about it.
The physicists at SLAC are clearly well aware of the various allotropes of carbon and the physical conditions needed to form diamond since their experiment was involved reproducing the absurdly high pressure conditions on Uranus showing that this lead to the formation of diamond. Hence they have taken the steps needed to show that the "metric crapton" (although I'm pretty sure that's not actually a metric unit) of carbon in Uranus very likely does exist as diamond.
The above poster is correct. Women want the diamonds because it is part of a mating ritual. If you made the diamonds worthless, they'd want something else similarly expensive or hard to get.
Jared Diamond does a pretty good job of explaining this in "The Third Chimpanzee". Worth a read.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Let's get out there and mine that shit!
Hey, someone had to say it, just be glad I didn't add Klingons in there.
I sure am glad that I did not win that powerball lottery.
I'll win the next one, and buy as much diamonds as uranus! has
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
The Matter in Extreme Conditions Lab photo looks pretty awesome and scary. Exactly like the kind of place James Bond will get trapped in, in his next movie. No way are you going to get me in there. And who left the machete on the floor?
Since when we are able to grow large ones in lab? Link please.
The handicap principle suggests that reliable signals must be costly to the signaler, costing the signaler something that could not be afforded by an individual with less of a particular trait.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle
Then again this makes more sense if you aren't going to be financially dependent on the handicapped individual.
Good thing my wife is a practical woman, (Engineer).
She goes like this, "A diamond? No way! They're perfectly clear and have no character. I'll take an emerald please, because green is my favorite color."
Me, "Thank god I'm saving some moni... I mean I love you honey!"
...while I examine Ur anus
I figure if clear gem diamonds actually cost a few bucks to make in a lab, we'd be able to buy it for less than 5k$ / carat from china.
Marketing.
Try to get a *non-chemistry geek* girl friend to accept the idea of a lab-grown engagement ring.
Even if you can produce lab-grown diamond that are "more perfect" (better color, less structural defects) than mined, at 1/4 of the price on the final ring (last time I checked), she'll be somehow persuaded that these are "different" and "not the real deal".
Then even have a look at the "big brands", like Tiffany, Cartier, etc. who sell you even more expensive rings - still the same quality of diamond in the ring, but they sell it for even more than other mined diamond because they sell you their "brand's experience". These guys are even more devilish than Apple.
Even if we produce objects whose carbon atoms are all exactly in the same place (and in real life: actually in sosmewhat "better places", given that you can control better the impurities and can guarantee 100% carbon - i.e.: better color), the marketing department selling you the "going to [brand's anme] shop experience" will still manage to convince that they are the "only real deal".
It's literally 1:10 price difference for the same carbon atoms in the same position betwen a lab diamond bought from the internet and the same in a big brand's shop. But somehow part of the population has been brainwashed to prefer the latter.
(Oh, and by the way, the labs that grow the diamond seem for now to all be in the occident. Asia is where the diamond are getting cut and where most of the buying selling market is happening).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Last time I was looking up lab-created diamonds they still seemed absurdly expensive. At best I've seen quarter or half the price of mined diamonds, not 1/10. Where do you get your diamond prices from?
I was comparing both extreme of the range :
On one hand the 1:4 priced lab grown diamonds that you can find in a few on-line shops that specialize in cheap lab diamonds (the one you mention having seen).
Compared to the over-expensive marked-up things from big brands (the Tiffany, Cartier, etc.) who sell you the whole "experience of entering [brand's name] shop".
They have marketing department that are even more devilish than Apple and have managed to persuade a sizeable portion of the population that it's worth paying ~ x2 (*) for the same product that has the same atoms of carbon in the same place (compared to less known other brands selling mined diamonds)
That gives you my total approximation of 1:10.
Again for the same lattice of carbon atoms. No physical/chemical differences.
Only the "a lab made it by carbon deposition" (with better control of what goes in. If you put the right price you can get the exact (lack-of) colour that you would want) vs "compressed by high pressure deep in the Earth and then extracted by an-almost slave whose probably going to eventually die while working in the mine" and "we slaped it inside a box with our magic trademarked name on it, that we sell in special shop that have our magic trademarked name on them, by staff that gives you our copyrighted smile"..
But the end product is the same with the same arrangement of carbon atoms.
But somehow one is worth time time more than the other.
Thank you marketing.
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(*) not my numbers. There are some guys who managed to get a hidden camera, get the characteristics, and compare the market prices.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]