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DIAMOND Diamond, composed of carbon, is the hardest natural substance in the world.

Each carbon atom is surrounded by four neighboring carbon atoms in a tetrahedral coordination that is the result of a covalent bond and a face centered arrangement in the cubic unit cell. Diamond is in the isometric crystal system, which is reflected in the commonly found octahedral or cubic crystal form. !he e"ternal crystal class is #$m%ar&'$m, while the space group designation is (#)d%ar&'$m. !wins are common on the *)))+ plane. It has perfect four directional cleavage, adamantine luster, and both a high refractive inde", '.#', and specific gravity, &.,'. -olor is usually pale yellow to colorless, but can also be brown, blue, green, orange, red, and blac.. Diamond may be up to & billion years old, which is much older than their surface host roc. /0arlow, )112, p. 345. Diamond crystalli6ation originates some '44 .ilometers, or &'4 miles, beneath the surface and the disaggregated crystals are merely transported to the surface via .imberlite and lamproite pipes /0arlow, )112, p. ,#5. !hese igneous host roc. formations are roughly cylindrical in shape and act as a conduit from the Earth7s mantle to the contintental crust. Diamonds are differentiated between various types, Ia, Ib, IIa, and IIb. Although this information is important to the diamond cutter, it is of no value to the student merely interested in diamond as a gemstone. Diamond7s superior optical properties and hardness has earned this mineral the highest respect in both industry and 8ewelry. It has a long tradition of invincibility and hence the 9ree. name, adamas. !oday, :, 24; of the world7s natural diamonds are used for industrial purposes and '4 ',; for gemstones. It is the chemical and physical properties of this mineral that give it the superior cutting ability for industrial use. Diamond coatings have improved on diamond7s industrial applications in cutting and in aiding the performance of semiconductors. It is the optical properties of this mineral that give it the superior beauty and durability to be used as a gemstone. !he rarity of this gemstone is related to the petrogenesis of the igneous roc. in which the diamond is recovered. Diamond may even be found in meteorites. It is an important economic resource, responsible for developing nations and creating war. (aceting diamond, in order to ma"imi6e its optical properties, depends upon a .nowledge of geometry. Diamond is the perfect mineral to focus on considering its notoriety and the fact that diamond studies cross disciplines, such as mineralogy, geology, astronomy, material science, mathematics, anthropology, art, history, and economics. (ollow up on one such interesting focus, the importance of diamond coatings to a past war. A diamond is a transparent crystal of tetrahedrally bonded carbon atoms in a covalent networ. lattice /sp&5 that crystalli6es into the diamond lattice which is a variation of the face centered cubic structure. Diamonds have been adapted

for many uses because of the material7s e"ceptional physical characteristics. Most notable are its e"treme hardness and thermal conductivity /144< ',&'4 =>m?)>@?)5, as well as wide bandgap and high optical dispersion. Above ),:44 A- /),1:& @ $ &,,2& A(5 in vacuum or o"ygen free atmosphere, diamond converts to graphiteB in air, transformation starts at C:44 A-. Diamond7s ignition point is :'4 < 244 A- in o"ygen and 2,4 < ),444 A- in air. Naturally occurring diamonds have a density ranging from &.),<&.,& g$cm&, with pure diamond close to &.,' g$cm&. !he chemical bonds that hold the carbon atoms in diamonds together are wea.er than those in graphite. In diamonds, the bonds form an infle"ible three dimensional lattice, whereas in graphite, the atoms are tightly bonded into sheets, which can slide easily over one another, ma.ing the overall structure wea.er.

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