Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Growing synthetic diamonds at home?

Growing synthetic diamonds at home?

antimon - 1-7-2015 at 02:16

Hi, i just saw a documentary about growing synthetic diamonds, and i thought to myself, can this be done at home?

I saw a clip of some guy that build a nuclear fusion reactor out of scrap, that he experimented with, and if this could be done, sure someone could grow diamonds at home also.

What do you guys think?

j_sum1 - 1-7-2015 at 02:37

A reference to your documentary or some further details on the procedure might be useful. Then we can comment on something specific.

As for a nuclear fusion reactor out f scrap... It is certain that some details are missing. Possible details include that (a) the claim is fraudulent (b) fusion was achieved but with greater energy input than output. (Such things can be done but hold no prospect as an energy source.)

morsagh - 1-7-2015 at 03:01

Maybe put 100m³ of water on 1cm² of graphite and heat to 2000 degrees

blogfast25 - 1-7-2015 at 05:59

Quote: Originally posted by antimon

Hi, i just saw a documentary about growing synthetic diamonds, and i thought to myself, can this be done at home?

I saw a clip of some guy that build a nuclear fusion reactor out of scrap, that he experimented with, and if this could be done, sure someone could grow diamonds at home also.

What do you guys think?

Google 'synthetic diamonds' and see for yourself what you think. The now commercially viable process requires access to pressures that are well outside the capacity envelope of hobbyists.

Re. home grown fusion, consult fusor.net. A few hobbyists have indeed achieved very low level fusion, as acknowledged by independent adjudicators. Their efforts have no commercial purposes though.

zed - 1-7-2015 at 12:42

Well, maybe you're the guy. Somebody is gonna figure out a simplified process for making large, high quality diamonds. Might as well be you.

Diamonds can be grown by vapor deposition, at reasonable pressures and temperatures. You probably have access to electricity and methane. Add a few new circuit breakers to yer fuse panel, and gear up!

Failing that, break out your camping gear. There have been many diamonds found in the West Coast areas of the US. It is suspected they were dispersed by Southward bound glaciers during the ice ages. But, from where? Their source has not been discovered. Somewhere out there, there are probably some undiscovered diamond pipes. Do a little snooping.

Just send me a few pounds as a finders fee, when you strike it rich!

aga - 1-7-2015 at 14:10

I suspect you want the diamonds to exchange for $ rather for any actual useful purpose.

Simples:-

Look up a method that makes something that looks a bit like a diamond (e.g. NaCl crystals)

Change the names of the reagents (Essence of the Mother Sea, cradled in the purest HHO).

Add in some garbage claims like 'secret', 'ancient', 'voodoo', 'alien' etc - let your imagination run wild.

Write it all up, then flog it on Ebay with the appropriate spin (e.g. Forbidden Home Diamond Process ! Hidden secret THEY DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW !!!!)

Do it right (i.e. hit the right formula) and you'll make not 1 diamond, yet still a big sack of $.

Edit:

Missed the Big part - tell them to keep their 'diamonds' hidden and a total secret, to be saved until the Big Collapse, otherwise they will have no value.

Also say that the merest fingerprint will ruin their value and wipe out all their hard work.

Stops them tasting them and discovering that it's salt.

[Edited on 1-7-2015 by aga]

violet sin - 1-7-2015 at 16:13

Zed: "many diamonds found in the West Coast areas of the US"

I know a few were reported to have been found in the navaro river, the mouth of which is a half hour south of Mendocino Ca. I work in that area often, Mendo that is, and was looking for things to do with my off time there. I came across some mining reports for the area to see if I could have some fun hiking. they stated that there was a pittance of gold here and there, and the occasional diamond.

Everyone I have talked to basically said there is no gold in them thar hills. Though I have heard of loggers finding some. Not like anyone is going to get rich, but it wasn't absent as stated by popular opinion. So far the thought was that range is just too young, everything is in the sierra nevada range. where it most definitely been found. I.e. http://www.news10.net/story/news/local/2014/10/22/6-pound-go...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on point again, here is an instructable for DIY diamonds... LOL
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Synthetic-Diam...

"My 10-year Wedding Anniversary is coming up so I thought I'd make my wife something special"

"The process is pretty straightforward. Basically, microwaves are used to create a slurry of graphite plasma which, when rapidly cooled form a crystal structure."

(I fully agree, the only..)- "Here's the ingenious part of the project. Turn one of the coffee mugs upside-down."

"Set the microwave for its maximum cook time at the maximum power setting. In my case, that was 99 minutes and 99 seconds - which turned out to be long enough"

(and of course the big shocker) -"Obviously, this falls a bit short of what we think of when we hear "diamond""

phlogiston - 2-7-2015 at 01:15

If you are content to form tiny diamonds for the academic challenge of doing so, rather than macroscopic gem quality crystals it may be doable.

Supposedly, tiny diamonds can form during arc welding, forming a hard layer.

Also, compression with high explosives is a possible route, as demonstrated on a mythbusters episode.

zed - 2-7-2015 at 12:38

There are huge Gold deposits around the San Francisco Bay. They are, however, not readily apparent. The Gold is dispersed microscopically an a non-descript stone matrix.

Diamonds, however, come from Diamond pipes. Since they are tough, and fairly dense, they may accumulate in streambeds, along with Gold. So, they occasionally show up in Gold panning or sluicing operations.

aga - 2-7-2015 at 13:21

Erm, Diamond Pipes ?

Bot0nist - 2-7-2015 at 15:03

I think he meant kimberlite or lamproite pipes , aga.

[Edited on 2-7-2015 by Bot0nist]

Molecular Manipulations - 2-7-2015 at 17:23

You could get some small diamonds by reducing cabon monoxide with molten lithium.

deltaH - 3-7-2015 at 02:10

Do you mean this MM? It's CO2 though, not CO?

"Synthesis of Large-Size Diamonds by Reduction of Dense Carbon Dioxide with Alkali Metals (K, Li)"

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp036356p

I don't suppose it's as simple as dropping some potassium into liquid CO2 under pressure is it?

[Edited on 3-7-2015 by deltaH]

Molecular Manipulations - 3-7-2015 at 08:06

On my computer I have a pdf. on the process. It metions carbon dioxide as well but says monoxide pervents formation of amorphous carbon - which occurs with dioxide IIRC. I'll attach it when I get back in town, if I remember.

PHILOU Zrealone - 10-7-2015 at 07:22

Molten Cast Iron (saturated with Carbon) and crashed cooled in molten aluminium...
Allow to cool down all the batch then dissolve all the metal with acids and the remaining are diamonds...