How Are Diamonds Made?
Diamonds are made out of carbon — highly organized carbon, that is. Geologists are still guessing how diamonds formed in the Earth from 1 billion to 3 billion years ago.
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00:00How are diamonds made?
00:04For decades, diamonds have been linked to romance and marriage.
00:07But how are they made?
00:09They start out not as coal, but as a form of carbon,
00:12the building block for all life on Earth.
00:15But to become a diamond, carbon undergoes an incredible transformation
00:18under very extreme conditions.
00:21Naturally occurring diamonds formed deep in the Earth
00:24between 1 billion and 3 billion years ago.
00:26And geologists say the recipe went something like this.
00:29Step 1, bury carbon dioxide in Earth's mantle about 100 miles underground.
00:35Step 2, apply heat to around 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:40Step 3, add incredible pressure, about 725,000 pounds per square inch.
00:47And finally, step 4, quickly rush towards Earth's surface to cool.
00:52Ancient volcanic eruptions billions of years ago
00:54are thought to be responsible for transporting most of the diamonds found today.
00:58All that sounds hard to replicate.
01:01But diamonds can also be made in a laboratory.
01:04In one method, tiny anvils squeeze down on graphite
01:07as intense electricity zaps it,
01:09producing gem-quality diamonds in just a few days.
01:12Another uses a diamond-growing vacuum chamber,
01:15seeding a diamond kernel with deposits from gases,
01:18gradually building it up to form a perfect gem.
01:21To the naked eye, today's synthetic diamonds closely match the color and brilliance
01:26of diamonds shaped deep underground billions of years ago.
01:29How diamonds are made, just one of life's little mysteries.