Rare Blue Diamonds Lurk Deep In Earth's Core (washingtonpost.com) 77
Scientist believe they now know how extremely rare blue diamonds are formed. After studying 46 of the gems, they found that blue diamonds are formed as deep as the transition zone between the planet's upper and lower mantle (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source) -- far greater depths than other diamonds, some deeper than 410 miles. The Washington Post reports: Just 1 out of 200,000 diamonds are blue. Like all diamonds, they are made when carbon comes under intense pressure and extreme heat deep inside the Earth. As they form, they can trap tiny bits of rock inside -- like fossils in amber. "Diamond is an extraordinary container, a time capsule," said Steven Shirey, a geochemist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington. Shirey and his colleagues used lasers to examine the diamonds' imperfections -- slivers of embedded rock -- at the Gemological Institute of America. The researchers suggest that boron in the ocean floor was pushed down when plates that make up the Earth's crust collided. The element allows the stone to absorb some red light, so the diamond looks blue. The findings were published in the journal Nature.
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The deepest mine in the world is about 4km underground...
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Or roughly 2.5 Miles. Yes the US should change to the Metric System, but why mix measurement systems in a comment post. It only adds to confusion.
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You're correct, but there's more to it.
https://www.google.com/maps/@3... [google.com]
This is where I grew up. See how the roads are spaced pretty regularly? Those aren't kilometers.
There's a huge amount of our country that's based on imperial measurements, and those for whom metric makes more sense - such as in science - already use metric. There's really no reason to change.
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The reason to change is that it's really annoying to mix systems, as the grandparent said. Wouldn't it be nice for consumers to actually be able to tell if something they're buying by the liter is cheaper than something they're buying by the gallon? Wouldn't it be easier if all those 5K races Americans run related to distances they drive? Wouldn't it be nice if the common American could understand science news without having to convert back and forth in their head? How about cooking a meal where half your m
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If you like to have things built with a mix of measurement systems, come live in Canada!
Re:Easy peezy (Score:5, Interesting)
The deepest mine in the world is about 4km underground...
The main obstacles to going deeper are getting air in and getting heat out. The solution is to get humans out and robots in. Robots don't need oxygen, and they can tolerate much higher temperatures. They can also work in much narrower shafts, and can even work submerged in pressurized liquids that can reduce cave-ins. There are also huge savings from avoiding all the safety measures, shift changes, and even gem theft.
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Alright, but don't send Bender otherwise that last part won't be true.
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Sorry, no.
The main obstacle is literary.
"Journey To The DeBeers Diamond Mine At The Center Of The Earth" just doesn't have the same ring and doesn't roll off the tongue as smoothly.
Strat
Re:Easy peezy (Score:5, Funny)
They're after my Lucky Charms! (Score:2)
None of this blue diamonds bullshit. Or horse shoes. Or shooting stars. Or blue moons. Or rainbows. Or red balloons. Or UNICORNS!
No wonder kids are fat these days.
They also lurk in engagement rings (Score:3)
Specifically they lurk in my wife's engagement ring. Go ahead Slashdot trolls... Bring on the hate for being married on Slashdot.
But in all seriousness, that's the beauty of lab created gemstones. You want a blue diamond? Not really any different than creating a clear one. You can even pick from different shades of blue.
Haet !!!! (Score:2)
Bring on the hate for being married on Slashdot.
No actually, we won't...
But in all seriousness, that's the beauty of lab created gemstones.
Much more interesting : which lab did you go to ?
For the extra geekiness factor : do you know any lab that they would allow big geeks to do a couple of the step ?
(As in "Honey, I personally *made* your diamong ! (Well I least until the labcoats threw me out before I break the expensive machines)" )
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I wish I could have visited the lab where they made the gemstones. That would have been awesome.
As for the actual procurement process, the ring was made by Krikawa https://www.krikawa.com/ [krikawa.com] and they did a fantastic job using one of their existing designs in Palladium for my wife. The actual diamond I was able to select myself from their synthetic diamond supplier D.NEA http://d.neadiamonds.com/ [neadiamonds.com] . Surprisingly, the detail page link is still active http://d.neadiamonds.com/lab-c... [neadiamonds.com] 5 years later. The side ston
Now all they have to solve... (Score:3, Interesting)
... is exactly why humans values these stones so highly. Sure, they're hard, but thats a pretty niche use. Apparently they look pretty. To me they just look like bits of glass which also doesn't tarnish. I honestly don't get why our species craves this stone so much.
Why humans crave (Score:1)
It's got electrolytes.
Re:Now all they have to solve... (Score:4, Informative)
Our primal urge to mate means we need a way to differentiate yourself from the pack. One way to do this is with luxury to show that we are so successful in surviving that we can use our excess resources on things that are not necessary for survival. So there are resources available to help take care of children and expand the gene pool.
Pretty rocks, decorative flowers, larger houses... Are things we want to have, So high demand.
Then if these pretty rocks are hard to find, then we will need to compete with others to get them. so low supply.
Low Supply and High Demand = a valuable object.
Sure we use other methods, such a physique, and dominance as well. But having excess is an important factor in our species mating rituals.
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The best among us don't need falsely-inflated consumer goods to do this.
That's not because of a "primal urge". It's because of marketing.
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You are so close to a breakthrough. Could it be possible that the rich are not the best among us? The Christians have a whole religion based on this. You may have heard of it.
Re: Now all they have to solve... (Score:2)
So the best among us are the most successful at getting laid? I never realized you thought so highly of President Trump!
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Paying for it doesn't count. Especially when you pay way over market value. You really think $130k is a well-negotiated price for sex with a washed-up porn star? What counts is the quality of your offspring, and on that count, President Trump fails the test. Tell me if you think any of the Trump children would be able to support themselves without trading on their daddy's celebrity.
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No this isn't a case a marketing. Marketing may direct us to use their product to satisfy the primal urge. But we see this behavior across many cultures with much different economic systems.
We bought New York City for $20 in glass beads. Now granted these glass beads were worth much more then, as there wasn't a way to mass produce them. But we were able to trade useful land, for silly pretty rocks.
World wide we can always trade Gold as a valuable substance.
Yes you can do something else to differentiate you
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Just because you're not in my league doesn't mean I don't feel some sympathy for your plight.
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Successful frauds are still frauds.
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... is exactly why humans values these stones so highly.
There is an animal model: The Bowerbird [wikipedia.org].
For both the bowerbird and humans the goal is the same: reproduction, which I presume from your confusion is something you are unfamiliar with.
The diamond, like the bower decorations, is a proxy for genetic fitness.
Pro-tip: Pick out your diamond together with your fiance. Once she sees you are willing to fork out a few months salary, she is likely to settle for something less. Couples on average spend 40% less that solitary males. Also, buy a loose diamond, then ha
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"For both the bowerbird and humans the goal is the same: reproduction, which I presume from your confusion is something you are unfamiliar with."
Is it? I'll have to tell my kid that. Might come as a surprise.
"The diamond, like the bower decorations, is a proxy for genetic fitness."
Except there's nothing to differentiate it from glass except by an expert.
"Pro-tip"
Thanks for that. Shall I note you as being tight as well as a rude?
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Lemme smash?
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... is exactly why humans values these stones so highly. Sure, they're hard, but thats a pretty niche use. Apparently they look pretty. To me they just look like bits of glass which also doesn't tarnish. I honestly don't get why our species craves this stone so much.
If diamonds were as common as rocks and rocks as rare as diamonds- we would be proposing to our girlfriends with engagement rings that had chips of gravel in them.
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That's why my wife has possibly the very rarest of gems: one from a meteorite. She wears a shooting star.
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Meteor gems are not that rare. You find olivine/peridot in meteorites all the time.
Martian rocks are rare. Prove you have something from Mars and you've got something worth serious cash.
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Because DeBeers wants you to. Their high pressure ad campaigns that they started in the early twentieth century created the idea of the diamond as the most valuable precious gem (before that, rubies and emeralds were generally regarded as more valuable). They also created the idea of the diamond engagement ring and managed to make it pretty much mandatory.
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We're in big trouble if Coke and DeBeers ever team up.
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Rule of acquisition #102: Nature decays, but latinum lasts forever.
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I honestly don't get why our species craves this stone so much.
"The Rise and Fall of Diamonds" is a book you might read on the subject. It really has to do with marketing. Rubies and emeralds used to be more highly prized, but DeBeers put diamonds on moviestars' hands, paid them to have diamond engagement rings and so on, and people are dumb and easily led.
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... is exactly why humans values these stones so highly. Sure, they're hard, but thats a pretty niche use. Apparently they look pretty. To me they just look like bits of glass which also doesn't tarnish. I honestly don't get why our species craves this stone so much.
This one is really easy.
Marketing.
At one time diamonds really were rare, or at least humans had not found the abundant sources of them (diamond pipes scattered over three continents). And nothing else on Earth was known that was hard as the diamond or, when free of inclusions, had such a high chromatic dispersion (that "fire" in cut stones). They were rare and very remarkable.
But then the diamond pipes of South Africa were discovered in 1870 and they were not rare any more, they threatened to be demoted to
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Same reason male peacocks have large and colorful tails. It's a demonstration of fitness. If you can afford to waste resources on pure appearance, you must be an exceptional specimen.
Won't be rare for long (Score:2)
If all you have to do is add a little of element X to get color Y in a diamond then it seems like it shouldn't be long until they start growing them in a lab like this. The bizarre thing is that people actually want these shiny chunks of carbon.
Re: Won't be rare for long (Score:3)
They do. Lab grown diamonds come in a variety of colors.
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And have less imperfections than mined ones.
And aren't mined by slaves.
And should be less expensive.
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So long as crystalline carbon is the only aphrodisiac that works on women, they will be prized.
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So long as crystalline carbon is the only aphrodisiac that works on women, they will be prized.
Unlike flowers and chocolates, the diamond will hold its value and can be resold after the divorce.
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" the diamond will hold its value"
BWAHAHAHAHAH HELL NO.
You could buy a $50M diamond right now and you'd be LUCKY to get $500,000 in return with it as melee.
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The bizarre thing is that people actually want these shiny chunks of carbon.
They are kind of pretty.
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If Hollywood taught me anything, it's that diamonds are necessary to cut windows when you're doing burglary.
Deep in Earth's core (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Deep in Earth's core (Score:5, Funny)
TFS summary says they're formed in the mantle, not the core.
Dude, it's BeauHD.
He at least got the planet right. Be happy he didn't change it from Earth to Uranus.
Diamonds myths (Score:2)
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Lasers. You forgot about lasers.
I'm guessing artificial ones would be better for that since AFAIK they usually have less impurities.
DeBeers (Score:1)