The Journey of Diamonds

There are many things that make diamonds just the perfect gifts and among these are the facts that they are completely resilient and won't break if scratched or dropped, the fact that they are so rare, and the fact that they look so beautiful.

However another thing that makes them so amazing is the fact that they are naturally occurring meaning that they are a part of the history of the planet and that they have an incredible story behind them. Here we will look at what that story is and why diamonds are so amazing.
Firstly, it's important to realise that diamonds are made from carbon. This carbon is the same as the carbon found in your body and all other life on Earth. In its raw form it looks like a strange blackish rock, and this can be found all around the earth. This carbon is a naturally occurring element that has an atomic value of 6 – that meaning that it has 6 protons inside its molecular structure.

But where does this carbon come from? Well in order for that many protons to be bonded together like that we need something called nuclear fusion – which occurs only at incredibly high temperatures – temperatures strong enough to create the nuclear force that bonds molecules together. As it happens not even the sun itself is hot enough to achieve those temperatures... so where is hot enough?

The answer is simple – the heart of a dying sun called a red giant. That means that during the moments before the sun's complete collapse, the very core of the sun is hot enough to create carbon, and this carbon can then travel to our planet via asteroids or on its own as asteroids where it can be found. And carbon compounds have indeed been discovered on meteorites (excitingly this is likely where we come from as well as diamond).

Now that carbon can be used for many things – such as to create life – but in order for that carbon to turn into diamond it needs to travel below the surface of the Earth around 120-200km beneath our feet. Here the intense heat and pressure over millions of years is enough to crystallise the carbon atoms in an isometric arrangement making it incredibly solid and refractory. The word diamond comes from the Greek 'Adamas' meaning 'indestructible'.

From here though the diamond then must journey to the surface over thousands more years to a diamond deposit where people will mine for those diamonds. From here they can then be brought back and placed into jewellery and other things – but not before being cut into a nice shape as the diamonds are incredibly rough and jagged when they first emerge. But before they will have been here, that carbon will have journeyed through space over thousands of lightyears, landed on Earth and potentially been a part of other things such as other lifeforms, before descending deep into the Earth's crust for millions of years (the 'youngest' diamonds we have are around 45 million years old) and then travelled up to the surface over thousands more. Think about that next time you're in your local diamond brokers!

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