Like every Friday, the weekly "A Taste of Physics" column is back — number 22.
This time: diamonds, and the surprising way to destroy them with a gentle puff of air.
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Diamonds are crystals of pure carbon.
Carbon atoms bond to one another in an ordered lattice, which gives diamonds their distinctive appearance and exceptionally high hardness (10 on the Mohs scale).
Diamonds are the hardest material found in nature, which is why diamonds can only be polished using diamond chips.
Diamonds are also used industrially to make various drill bits.
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In the video we can witness a truly one-of-a-kind phenomenon — diamond chips destroyed in the blink of an eye by nothing more than a stream of air.
How does this happen?
The diamonds are heated to an extremely high temperature using a flame.
Next, pure oxygen is directed onto them.
Each pair of oxygen atoms combines with one carbon atom from the diamond to form carbon dioxide — a gas. The energy required for this process comes from the diamonds' intense heat.
As the process continues, more and more carbon atoms break away from the diamond and become carbon dioxide, until the entire diamond disappears.
And so, right before our eyes, the hardest material in the world dissolves into gas.
Shabbat Shalom 🌹
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