Elements Unearthed Podcast Script and Notes

 

 

Overview

 

This page is for students working on the Synthetic Diamonds video podcast. It will have the following features:

• Student notes from their individual research, edited into a draft script 

• Revisions by team members and the Subject Matter Expert

• Questions to ask the SME and others during the interviews at the sites

• Transcripts of video clips of the interviews and tours

• Final approval by the SME and company PR people 

 

Team

 

• Alison Butterfield: History of Diamonds

• James Hylton: Four Forms of Carbon 

• Mariah Nelson: Processes for Creating Synthetic Diamonds

• Josh Nelson: The Four Cs of Diamonds and Use

 

Timeline

 

• Initial Research: November, 2008 

• Detailed Research/Draft of Script: Dec. 15-16, 2008 

• Contact with SME: Jan. 5-9, 2009

• Tour of Companies (Videotaping): Jan. 12-16, 2009

• Capture and Transcription/B-Roll Creation: Jan. 20-30, 2009 

• Final Script Complete with Approval of SME: Jan. 30, 2009 

• Video Editing - Draft: Feb. 2-6, 2009 

• Alpha Testing/Revisions: Feb. 9-13, 2009

• Beta Test/SME Checkoff: Feb. 16-20, 2009

• Export to Podcast/Add Metadata: Feb. 23-27

• Post to Blog, Upload to iTunes: Monday, Mar. 1 

 

Script Sections:

 

 Diamonds. Photographed by Mario Sarto

 

 

Lead In:

 

 

History: 

 

     The first diamonds were discovered in India over 2000 years ago in alluvial deposits. At that time diamonds were used by kings and royalty to show power, and worn into battles to show great strength and invincibility. Those who wore diamonds were thought to be as invincible as the diamonds themselves. Unfortunately, along with the ownership of diamonds there often came bloodshed, torture, death, and sometimes even wars due to the greed of those who didn’t have diamonds or wanted more of them.

In 1725, when diamonds were to becoming scarce in India, alluvial diamond deposits were discovered in Brazil. In 1867 the diamond industry would change forever with the discovery kimberlite pipes in Africa. There were so many diamonds being found in Africa that by 1870 over 10,000 miners had infested the area seeking their fortunes.

In 1888, the largest and most powerful diamond company in the world was created and named DeBeers Consolidated Mines. From the very beginning DeBeers had ambitions to control the diamond market. They soon succeeded and have done everything in their power to keep it that way ever since.

The biggest contribution to the diamond industry that DeBeers has made in the past 130 years is to control the price of diamonds by limiting their supply to the world’s trade market. With this control DeBeers has been able to keep the price of diamonds up to quite an extravagant level. Meanwhile, technology has found many uses for diamonds but the price far outweighs the benefits. Fortunately, technology has also found a way to produce diamonds in a laboratory that costs much less than that of diamonds mined and sold by DeBeers.

Man-made or synthetic diamonds and are of the exact molecular structure, made of the same substance, and have the same properties as that of real diamonds, but are created in a laboratory taking 20 minutes instead of deep in the earth taking thousands of years. Man-made diamonds are not fake; fake diamonds or “stimulants” have only some properties of real diamonds (usually that of appearance.)

Men have been trying to make diamonds for over a hundred years. Henri Moissan thought he discovered diamonds in 1893, which turned out to be silicon carbide (SiC). In 1937, zirconium oxide (ZrO2) was discovered. In the 1970s, it was discovered that putting ZrO2 under more than 2,700 degrees Centigrade would create crystals that look very much look diamonds. It was named cubic zirconia (CZ) and became an inexpensive diamond stimulant. In 1953, a diamond was claimed to have been made in Sweden but was kept secret and the experiment was never reproduced with the same result.

The first successful diamond made was on December 16, 1954 by Tracy Hall. Hall was working for General Electric and used a High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) process with what he called a “Belt” device. Others were then able to reproduce the experiment with the same result. Using the HPHT process diamonds can be made to specifications as to hardness and durability, by altering the ingredients used.

Another way to make synthetic diamonds was discovered in 2005 by Robert Linares- owner of Apollo Diamond- using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Linares found that using a diamond crystal seed and CVD he could make gem quality, single-crystal diamonds. His discovery was quite by accident. He had left a piece of diamond in some acid over the weekend. When he came back he found the acid gone and a colorless pure diamond in its place. Using CVD diamonds can be made to specific sizes or thicknesses depending to their use as gems, in computers, or in any other application diamonds can be used for.

Man-made diamonds were not discovered to put more rings on more fingers but were in fact made for technology and science. and most of these diamonds are made for industrial use.

 

http://www.manmadediamondinfo.com/

http://worldofdiamonds.blogspot.com/2007/11/synthetic-diamonds_25.html

http://www.diamondlab.org/73-synthetic_diamonds.htm

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/sa-diamond-sector-seeking-ways-to-mitigate-economic-downturn-2009-03-20

 

  

 

 

Characteristics of Diamonds (The Four Cs): 

  

     The five “C”s of diamonds are clarity, cut, carat, and certification. The clarity has to do the flaws, the cut is the shape and the number of facets, the carat is the weight, and the certification is the gem quality.

     

 

     Carat

 

       Carat weighing about the same as a small paper clip or 0.2 grams.  Just as a dollar as it is divided to 100 pennies, a carat is divided to 100 points which means a diamond that is 50 points it is .50 carats.      

       Two diamonds of the same weight can be of different value depending on the clarity color and cut. Most of the diamonds used in fine jewelry weigh one carat or less. Because fraction of a carat can represent a considerable difference in cost, when purchasing diamonds the exact precision is crucial. In the diamond industry, weight is measured to a thousandth of a carat and rounded to the nearest hundredth. Each one hundredth is called point 0.25 ct diamond would be or you would call it a twenty five pointer.  Diamonds weights greater than one carat such as 1.08 ct. stone would be called one point oh eight carats, “ one oh eight”.

http://gia4cs.gia.edu/cm/four-cs-of-diamonds/carat-weight.htm

 

 

    Color

       Diamonds are valued by how closely they approach colorlessness the less color, the higher the price or value.  Most diamonds found in jewelry stores run from colorless to near colorless with slight hints or color of yellow or brown. The only exceptions are the fancy color diamonds that lie outside of this range such as pearls and gems.  

       The industry is based on a color scale from the letter D to Z. D represents colorless and continues increasing the presence of color to the letter Z. Most of these colors are invisible to the untrained eye. But these color different of diamonds are a big different of the price and quality of the diamond.

http://gia4cs.gia.edu/cm/four-cs-of-diamonds/color.htm

 

 

    Clarity

        Because most diamonds become from the earth they sometimes get these things called inclusions and blemishes. Diamonds with very few birthmarks are rare and rarity effects diamond value. Diamonds are given a quality grade which is from flawless (fl) to diamonds with more prominent inclusions (I3).

Every diamond is unique in its own way. There has never been a perfect or flawless diamond. Not even under 10X magnification know as flawless diamonds are very rare to have.  Most jewelers have never ever seen one.

        The GIA has a grading system that contains 11 grades, with most readily available diamonds falling into the VS or SI categories. In determining a clarity grade, GIA considers that the size, nature, position, color or relief, and quantity of clarity characters are visible under 10 x magnifications.

http://gia4cs.gia.edu/cm/four-cs-of-diamonds/clarity.htm

 

 

        Cut

         The cut in the diamond is the most important thing than anything in a good diamond. 58 tiny facets in a diamond each perfect and precise cut just right and sharply defined, and only two millimeter in diameter.  Without this perfect cutting diamonds would not be as beautiful as they are today.

          Through extremely difficult to analyze this precision, there are three attributes that make the diamond the way it is, such as brightness (the total light reflected from a diamond), fire (the dispersion of light into the colors of the spectrum), and scintillation (the light flashes – or sparkle – when a diamond moves)

          All diamond cuts start with a shape, the round brilliant shape that is dominating in most jewelry stores today. The other shapes such as hearts, square, triangle, pearl, emerald, cushions, ovals, these shapes are known as fancy cuts, and they are getting popular and becoming in most jewelry stores.

http://gia4cs.gia.edu/cm/four-cs-of-diamonds/cut.htm

 

 

 

 

Uses of Diamonds:

 

 

     Other than attractive jewelry, Diamonds have many other practical uses. They have many qualities hard to find in any other material. One company called Element Six, associated with De Beers, has invested 100 million dollars in the research and development of uses for diamonds.

 

 

 

     Diamonds are the hardest material known to man. They are very useful in the machine and cutting industry. They have been used in making diamond tipped saws, diamond drills bits, and other abrasive tools by companies such as US Synthetic. A possible use, not yet created is the idea of using diamonds as a coating that will never scratch or wear out (i.e. car surface, coating tools).

 

 

 

     Another important characteristic of a diamond is that it is chemically inert. Diamonds won’t chemically react with any other material. This makes them useful in chemistry sciences. It has been put to many uses, such as purifying water.

 

 

 

     Diamonds can act as a semiconductor. This is important in the world of electronics.  Diamonds conduct heat, and when combined with certain other substances, such as boron, they conduct electricity. Since diamonds are extremely resistant to heat, chemical damage, and radioactive damage, they can process at speeds much greater than the silicon we use in electronics we use today, and last in rough situations. Diamonds haven’t been used in commercial electronics yet, but when they do we can expect cell phones and computers running faster than ever with seemingly endless memory space.

 

 

 

     The optical clarity and durability of a diamond could prove very useful in development of powerful lasers. Currently the most powerful lasers operate at 20 kilowatts, and the leaders in the industry are hoping to double that. With that much power, the zinc-selenide lenses the laser beam passes through begin to warp and distort the light. Using a diamond lens will solves these problems.

 

 

 

     Medical companies show interest in using diamonds as replacement joints. With their frictionless qualities and extreme durability they would make flawless joints.

 

 

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/562 

 

 

 

http://xinkaishi.typepad.com/a_new_start/2008/07/ft-element-six-artificial-diamonds-hip-joints.html

 

  

 

 

How Synthetic Diamonds are Made:  

 

 

 

     Diamonds are pure carbon. When carbon bonds with itself, it can make graphite or diamonds. When it forms diamonds, the four electrons are all bonded to other carbon atoms in interlocking tetrahedrons.

 

 

 

     Artificial diamonds have been made since the 1950’s. People make them the same way nature does. With heat and pressure. Machines are used to apply 58,000 atmospheres of pressure to the carbon for a few days. This can only make small diamonds and it is a challenge creating a machine that can withstand all that pressure without destroying itself or exploding. These small diamonds are used as tools. Engineers bond these small diamond particles to another material, such a special drill bit.

 

 

 

     Creating diamonds large enough for jewelry uses another process that came about in the 1990's. To start the process of growing a diamond, a small bit of a diamond is placed in a vacuum. Carbon atoms vaporize and grow as diamonds off of the original peice.

 

 

 

 

www.ussynthetic.com/products/index.php

encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/columns/?article=bnartificialdiamonds 

 

 

 

www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-10-06-man-made-diamonds_x.htm

 

 

The four forms of carbon:

 

 

     before we go into the four forms of carbon, we first need to understand carbon itself. Carbon is in a lot of things we see every day. Its atomic number is six, and it has six electrons and protons. Carbon is the sixth most abundant element in the universe. It is in almost every thing we see, in our clothes, food, even in gasoline. The list of things that carbon is in could go on and on.

 

 

      There are four forms of carbon and they are diamond, graphite, bucky balls, and carbon tubes.

 

     Diamonds are formed in a tetrahedral unit, this makes it a exstreamily stable and is the hardest natrual substance known to man. The carbon bonds at a 109.5 degree angle.

     Graphite is much softer than dimand, we mostly know graphite from our pencils. graphite comes in sheets, witch is why it is so good for writing. When you rub your pencil agenst the paper the sheets com of layer by layer.

 

Summary:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front Page     Brick Manufacturing     Household Chemicals     

Liquid Air     Pottery Making     

Stained Glass

 

 

Mariah's Page      James's Page     

Alison Butterfield

 

 

 

Josh's Page