The word 'diamond' derives from Greek adamao, meaning 'I tame' or 'I subdue' or the related word adamas, which means 'hardest steel' or 'hardest substance'.

Most diamonds are made of carbon that was in the mantle since the earth was formed, but some are made of carbon from the bodies and shells of microorganisms like algae in ancient oceans. This organic carbon was buried in rocks that were dragged down into the mantle because of plate tectonics and continental drift. All living things on earth are based on carbon. If you or I were to somehow fall into an ocean trench at the edge of a tectonic plate where rocks are being dragged underneath a continent, we might reappear millions of years later as diamonds!

Diamond, the hardest material known to man, is 10 times harder than steel, 2 times harder and 10 times more wear-resistant than tungsten carbide, and has 20 times the compressive strength of granite.

Geologists first used natural diamonds for drilling in about 1910 in hollow coring bits that cut doughnut-shaped holes and retrieved columns of rock for analysis. Diamonds were first introduced to full-hole bits for oil wells in the early 1920s and are widely used today. Natural-diamond bits use industrial-grade-not gem-quality-naturally occurring stones that are crushed and processed to produce specific sizes and regular, rounded shapes.

ORLY

http://www.kampfstern-galactica.net/bilder/charaktere/commander-adama-gr.jpg

Someone propose to Rrrobyn, quick

Take the hint

there are diamonds on some dental drill bits which are actually called burs and which i am reading abt for work

i will only accept sapphires!

the adama thing is kind of blowing my jetlagged mind!

http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/diamonds/images/drilling2.gif

http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/diamonds/images/tweezers.gif

http://www.37point5.com/aaronBurrPoster.jpg

http://www.abrasive-tech.com/Media/TS2000.jpg

http://www.ceramco.com/images/prod_cerconz_aacd_01.jpg

gah

http://mp3.sarbc.ru/i/mp3/9443.8768.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/aplus/007/600/diamonds_3_600.jpg

http://www.the007generation.de/images/leute/glover_smith.jpg

http://www.freemyspacegraphics.com/Graphics/Bling!/images/shark_teeth.jpg

The NYU Dental Assistance Plan
The NYU Dental Assistance Plan, administered by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, provides full-time office and technical staff members with benefits for preventive dental care and other services necessary for the proper care of the teeth.

You are eligible to participate in this program after you have completed three months of continuous, full-time service. The plan is provided at no cost to you. You many not waive individual (self-only) coverage. You may enroll your spouse, registered domestic partner, and/or dependent children for a fee.

http://www.frostbiteimages.com/Wierd%20Pictures/Guns/slides/Diamond%20knuckles.jpg

http://incolor.inebraska.com/stuart/de/de.jpg

they can synthesize gem-quality diamonds from graphite now

currently I think they only make yellow ones, not because they can't make the clear kind but because yellow ones have a higher margin

I think i read something about deBeers hiring PIs to follow those guys

anyway the oldest stuff is not going to be any carbon, carbon had to be fused from older, lighter elements in stars, the oldest stuff is hydrogen, all hydrogen in the entire universe (with the exception of isotopes busted out in man-made fission) was formed in like the first couple seconds of time

^ rong

wait

i wld like a hydrogen diamond then if that is true

I misread that

a hydrogen diamond is helium

does nuclear fission ever occur spontaneously in nature?

http://www.goofygal1975.com/E%20E%20Ring%20Balloon%20Home.jpg

does nuclear fission ever occur spontaneously in nature?

-- El Tomboto, Thursday, January 3, 2008 2:45 PM (6 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

yes

link plz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

(i love this)

I didn't check that article but people thought they were ancient discarded spaceship reactor cores at first.

coool

that's awesome thanks jon!!

I'll just post these other awesome links too ok?

http://www.warbirdforum.com/toss.htm
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=160 <-- crappy writing :/

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/1907/452pxloudiamondphillipsbv5.jpg