DailyDirt: Contrary To Popular Belief, Diamonds Aren't Forever

There are plenty of good reasons why gold is a valuable element that has been used as money instead of other substances in nature. Diamonds might have been an interesting form of carbon to use in a monetary system, but diamonds don't actually last forever. Here are just a few quick links on diamonds.

• Candle flames can create diamond particles very briefly, but the diamonds are burned away in the process. About 1.5 million diamond nanoparticles are created every second as a candle burns, actually. [url]
• Diamond is thermodynamically unstable, but it was only recently discovered that it can actually lose mass slowly under UV light. Physicists found this out when they couldn't make a diamond-based UV laser that lasted for more than 10 minutes... [url]
• Diamonds have a high index of refraction that makes them sparkle. But there are possibly other forms of carbon that could be more sparkly -- if only they could be synthesized. [url]
• To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110812/17032815498/dailydirt-contrary-to-popular-belief-diamonds-arent-forever.shtml

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