Diamonds Get Sticky
Filed in archive Jewelry News by tammy on July 21, 2007
Peanut butter is being turned into diamonds by scientists with a technique that harnesses pressures higher than those found at the centre of the earth.
Edinburgh University experts say the feat is made possible by squeezing the paste between the tips of two diamonds creating a "stiletto heel effect". [...]
Professor Malcolm
McMahon, based at the Centre for Science and Extreme Conditions at Edinburgh University, is one of the scientists involved. He said: "Pressure can cause extraordinary changes in all kinds of materials and can create completely novel materials.
"We are currently developing techniques that will create pressures of up to five million atmospheres, much higher than the pressure at the centre of the earth, to find the holy grail of high-pressure physics, the metallic phase of hydrogen.
"If we manage to make metallic hydrogen, the next step will be to make enough to study it in real detail, which would mean using much larger diamond anvils, about the size of your thumb, to squeeze it."
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