The history of diamond making by the universe
A STAR WAS BORN & GAVE BIRTH TO DIAMONDS
The Ultimate Jewel in the Universe, Filled with Sparkles
Research and discoveries are part of human nature. A healthy curiosity, a driving force towards understanding about ourselves as well as about our surroundings; what we stand for and about life itself.
Ever since my childhood, I was always fascinated by science; how things form, especially about Physics,
Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Crystallography.
(I will be sharing Twenty-Eight years of exhaustive research along with some resources)
What is the definition of Science?
Science and research are the study of the-nature and behavior of natural “things” and the knowledge we obtain about them; it is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Knowledge begins with curiosity and ends with respect towards nature’s incredible design patterns and its continuum cycle of development harmoniously.
My inspiration and curiosity on mineralogy and gemstones started from the time I was interested in the jewelry industry back in 1980. Later in my life, I started to study the science of gemology through the Gemological Institute of America, and when I graduated from GIA, I started to appreciate the beauty and rarity of gemstones. I eventually started to study mineralogy more in-depth. I began to analyze how gemstones, especially gems origin in the universe, like putting pieces of puzzle together and almost like a vision, I started to understand about the possibility that the first mineral called diamonds was first born through stars and ever since the beginning. I became convinced about my theory and once I started to do more research, I was able to finally feel confident. The pieces of the puzzles (education and research) started to fit.
I took steps backward in order to figure out its origin. I have been doing my research systematically by going through ‘step-by-step’ back-in-time; I felt that it was my personal mission to discover what was the very first mineral ever crystallized as I “knew” it, but I needed to confirm my own opinion by research. It is very likely diamonds. Tracing time backward made it quite apparent how diamonds formed, logically and theoretically; just like a detective using forensic science to determine and trace the origin of mineral developments.
My inspiration towards space began especially when I once stood on the street looking at the moon and thinking how the moon is “floating” in space. I immediately thought that I am also standing on a planet called earth which is also “floating” in the same space, and said to myself… “when we look towards the universe it is called outer space, and if I was to stand on the moon and looked at the earth, I would say that earth is in “outer space” It is all related! We are in space and through time, everything expands and changes occur according to God’s continuum recipe.
It was only through my understanding of how diamonds are formed here on earth as well as in the exoplanets and how stars are formed and how the universe constantly expands… I was truly fascinated by everything and the extraordinary way in which things are created and recreated.
What is a diamond? Diamonds are composed of “simply” CARBON, which is the strongest type of chemical bond. Carbon atoms bond together to start growing as a crystalline solid. Due to high temperature and pressure, under these conditions, carbon atoms will bond to each other in a very strong type of bonding, where each carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms by strong covalent bonds.
What is Crystallography?
Crystallography is the study of atomic and molecular structure, which can be found everywhere in nature—from salt to snowflakes to gemstones. Crystallographers use the properties and inner structures of crystals to determine the arrangement of atoms, and generate knowledge that is used by chemists, physicists, biologists, and others. Within the past century, crystallography has been a primary force in driving major advances in the detailed understanding of materials, synthetic chemistry, and the understanding of basic principles of chemical and biological processes.
As a science, crystallography has awarded 28 Nobel Prizes, more than any other scientific field.
Crystallographers use different methods to identify a material, such as X-ray and electron diffraction techniques to identify and characterize solid materials. Scientists use many other methods including X-ray fluorescence, spectroscopic techniques, microscopic imaging, and computer software programs to construct detailed models of the atomic arrangements in solids. This provides valuable information on a material’s chemical composition, polymorphic form, defects, disorders, etc. It also helps us to understand how solids perform under temperature, pressure, and other conditions.
Back in 2014, scientific research was conducted by firing powerful pulses of laser beams in experiments at Livermore’s National Ignition Facility. Incredibly and for the first time, they re-created conditions that exist deep in the cores of the solar system’s giant planets.
The scientists focused the huge laser’s intense energy at targets of synthetic diamonds to create a kind of artificial gravity that in bursts of energy compressed the hard diamonds under immense pressures more than 50 million times greater than Earth’s atmosphere, at about 763° Celsius (1,405° Fahrenheit).
The scientists said the squeezed diamonds vaporized in less than 10 billionths of a second.
With that instantaneous flash, the unprecedented experiments in the science of condensed matter will yield new insights into the nature of all the carbon-rich planets in our own solar system, and also the millions of distant stars and exoplanets that are known to exist far off in the Milky Way galaxy.
The experiment’s facility inside the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is known as the NIF. The huge multibillion-dollar lab, overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration, is where scientists have been trying unsuccessfully for years to achieve a reaction called ignition with the powerful laser beams.
In effect, that long-sought goal would reproduce the chemical reactions inside exploding nuclear bombs to create controlled and self-sustaining thermonuclear fusion.
The NIF laser – the largest on Earth – is actually an array of 192 individual high-energy lasers that can be fired simultaneously and aimed with unparalleled precision to become a single laser hitting the central target.
In the diamond experiments, an effort unrelated to nuclear weapons research – the scientists focused 176 of the laser beams simultaneously at a diamond contained inside a tiny gold cylinder called a hohlraum. In the hohlraum, the immensely bright laser light was turned into X-rays in successive pulses of 20 millionths of a second.
What is ‘55 Cancri e’ made of?
An alternative possibility is that ‘55 Cancri e’ is a solid planet made of carbon-rich material rather than the oxygen-rich material that makes up the terrestrial planets in our solar system.
‘55 Cancri e’ is a super-Earth, about twice the size of our own planet. It has a surface temperature of nearly 4,900 degrees Fahrenheit (2,700 degrees Celsius). It is believed by scientists that it is composed of diamonds and graphite and that is why it is known as the diamond-planet. The planet still remains an interesting object of study due to its high density and its very close proximity to its parent star.
The planet ‘55 Cancri e’ is about 40 light-years away, and it is very difficult to analyze. It is twice the size of Earth, and its mass is eight times greater, making it a “super-Earth.” In spite of its distance from Earth, it is actually visible to the naked eye in the constellation of Cancer.
What would really be the value of this planet-diamond? It all depends on the actual 4Cs of course, well several trillion dollars worth? Or it could reach 25 nonillions (25,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) or more? In reality, such abundance will make diamonds very inexpensive (But of course, this is beyond reach).
Rocks from space?
Our planet is continuously bombarded by meteorites and has been since its formation.
There is plenty of evidence to prove that the universe did undergo an early period of rapid expansion in a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second and constantly expanding in every direction throughout the immeasurable space around us.
Research leads us to discover more about our universe. Some facts were discovered accidentally, and the amazing excitement along with the satisfaction when something new is discovered, inevitably creates even more enthusiasm and more curiosity for more research. This reminds me of the moment when GE figured out that by adding troilite as a solvent, the first diamonds were achieved as a man-made (synthetic) diamonds by Tracy Hall. Howard Tracy Hall (October 20, 1919 – July 25, 2008) was an American physical chemist and the first person who grew a synthetic diamond by a reproducible, verifiable, and witnessed process, using a press of his own design.
When earth (nature) creates diamonds, they are called natural diamonds, also known as mineral, and not like the synthetic (lab-grown) diamonds which are-NOT-considered minerals. On earth, the development process of a diamond requires extremely high pressure and temperature, and those conditions are only possible approximately 120 miles (193 Kilometers) or farther inside the earth.
Before I go a little deeper within the complex world of mineral development, it is important to understand that approximately 98% of the universe is made up of Hydrogen & Helium, and interestingly, these are the two lightest elements. There are dozens of different chemical elements in our sun, Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and makes up three-quarters of all matter, Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe. When hydrogen levels within a star’s core deplete, the standard fusion reaction can no longer take place. This leads to a decrease in the amount of energy radiating outwards and the stellar core collapses increasing the temperature and pressure. When the temperature reaches 200 million Kelvin (359,999,540 Fahrenheit) or (199,999,726 Celsius) Helium fusion becomes possible.
Three Helium nuclei fuse to create a single carbon atom. A fusion of four helium nuclei can be used to create oxygen atoms. This happens in stars that have used up their supply of Hydrogen within the core. Further fusion processes can create heavier elements such as silicon, magnesium, and sodium. However, the abundance of these elements in most stars is very low and accounts for less than one (1) percent of the mass. Fusion within stars can only account for the creation of elements up to the mass of iron. Actually, the fusion process uses energy rather than creates it. The remaining heavy elements beyond iron are thought to be forged in the collapse of heavy stars, a process known as a supernova. A supernova is as destructive as it is constructive.
Other elements are Oxygen, Carbon, Neon, Nitrogen. Magnesium, Silicon, Iron, and Sulfur.
Scientists estimate that the core of the Sun is a 15 million degree Celsius or over 27 million-degree Fahrenheit, an ionized ball of plasma, a soup of electrons and protons that are stripped from hydrogen atoms. This kind of “soup” is called ‘plasma’, which makes up 90 percent of the Sun. Every second, thousands of protons in the Sun’s core collide with other protons to produce helium nuclei in a nuclear fusion reaction that releases energy. Just outside the core, energy moves outward by a process called radiation. Closer to the surface, the energy moves out by a process called convection (hot gases rise), cools and sink back down again. As these masses of gas move, they push off of each other causing “Sun-quakes.” These make the material in the Sun vibrate. These Sun-quakes help scientists determine the Sun’s internal structure and the processes occurring at different locations underneath the Sun’s surface.
As a simplified example of how diamonds form: Two Helium nuclei will make Beryllium and a third added Helium nuclei makes carbon, and as graphite crystallizes under the right conditions, it becomes a diamond (It is a complex process, I just wanted to simplify it for the readers).
Temperatures in the outer space is extreme and can range from as hot as Four-Trillion degrees to
-459.67 Fahrenheit freezing temperatures known as absolute Zero (−459.67 °F or −273.15 °C ).
Now, how diamonds actually form in outer space? Which means, more diamonds in space than here on earth, actually much, much more.
What is a supernova?
Any star which suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass. As far as the scientists are aware, a supernova is the most powerful explosion in the universe. The fusion that happens in the center of the stars creates heavier elements which include Carbon, the necessary ingredient of a diamond; these elements cannot form without the stars.
As the cloud collapses, a dense, hot core forms and begins gathering dust and gas. Not all of this material ends up as part of a star and the remaining dust may become planets, asteroids, or comets or some, simply remain as dust.
Per NASA’s research, some stars can be about 200,000,000 (200 million) degrees inside, and the Sun is around 25,000,000 (25 million) degrees at its core. For short times, as stars that are much larger than the Sun are ending their lives in huge explosions, the inside temperature could reach as high as 10,000,000,000 (10 billion) degrees.
Since about 70% of a star is Hydrogen, and since the core of a star is very hot and very dense, the gravity pushes Hydrogen down towards the core. Due to the high density, hydrogen atoms start to collide with each other and when this occurs, they stick together, and when 4 Hydrogen atoms combine, a new element forms called Helium.
Interestingly, the new form of “Helium” will now weigh less than the 4 hydrogen atoms because of the loss of mass during nuclear fusion. Most of the mass is converted into nuclear energy called a photon (Definition of Photon: A particle representing a quantum of light or other electromagnetic radiation. A photon carries energy proportional to the radiation frequency but has zero rest mass: early 20th century: from Greek phōs, phōt- ‘light’, on the pattern of the electron )
“Most white dwarfs are made mostly of carbon and oxygen,”, and at that temperature, given the density of a white dwarf, those elements should have crystallized. Another name for crystallized carbon is “diamond.”
A white dwarf is what stars like the Sun will become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel. Near the end of its nuclear burning stage, this type of star expels most of its outer material, creating a planetary nebula. Only the hot core of the star remains. This core becomes a very hot white dwarf, with a temperature exceeding 100,000 Kelvin. Over the next few billion years or so, the white dwarf will cool down.
Scientists hypothesize that there is a crust 30 miles (50 Kilometers) thick below the atmosphere of many white dwarfs, and at the bottom of this crust is a crystalline lattice of carbon and oxygen atoms.
What else is out there?
Peridot (Pallasites), Quartz and Feldspar
Basically, minerals form when chemical components join together to form a solid structure.
In 1998, an infrared spectrometer on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft detected a substantial deposit of gray hematite near the Martian equator chemical formula (Fe2O3),
Researchers examining data from the orbiter’s Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars have found evidence of hydrated silica, commonly known as Opal, as well as Gypsum which is deposited by water (Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate).
What else?
Gold and platinum should be rare on Earth, as a matter of fact; they shouldn’t be here at all. Or at least, they shouldn’t be in Earth’s crust. These elements, along with iridium and similar metals, love iron, and thus they were sucked into our planet’s molten iron core soon after Earth formed. So where did all the material for our fancy jewelry come from? According to high-precision measurements of two isotopes, or atomic variants, of tungsten in 4-billion-old rocks from Greenland published online in Nature.com, precious-metal-bearing meteorites struck Earth, coating the planet in a veneer containing gold, platinum, and other elements long after their native counterparts had disappeared into the planet’s core. Proof positive that your “bling” really is out of this world.
SUMMARY
The first crystalline mineral in the universe was diamonds, born through supernova!
What is a star?
Our sun is a star, and when our sun dies, it could very much turn into a gigantic diamond. Don’t get excited, no one will live to “see” that. The earth will be dark and will start to freeze and no one will survive.
The common makeup of a star is:
“Simply,” a glowing sphere of hot gas containing approximately.
70% Hydrogen & 28% Helium
1.5 % Carbon (Key ingredient for diamonds), Nitrogen and Oxygen
The remainder is about 0.5% of small amounts of many other elements such as neon, iron, silicon, magnesium, and sulfur.
The universe is filled with precious gems and precious metals.
The merger of two neutron stars creates Gold, Platinum and other precious metals producing hundreds of Earth’s masses worth of gold and platinum.
Gold, like most heavy metals, are forged inside stars through a process called nuclear fusion. Titanium, silver, different metals, and different minerals have different mass weight. Here is an example of weight: A neutron star is so dense that one teaspoon weighs about 900 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza. In the enormous gravitational field of a neutron star, that same amount would be about 15 times what the Moon would weigh if it were placed on the surface of the Earth.
Some asteroids are worth billions of dollars, or Trillions and even quadrillions of dollars in gold, platinum, copper, cobalt, iron, diamonds and more…
Sincerely,
Jack Ghazalian, DG, CSG, GG, RGA
International Distinguished Scholar
GIA Graduate Gemologist
Certified by the Honor Society (Washington D.C)
Kappa Delta Pi (International Honor Society in Education)
Geological Society of America
American Association for the Advancement of Science
National Space Society (NSS/NASA)
The Planetary Society
The American Astronautical Society
