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Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

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Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#141

Post by bubblebobble99 »

pessimizer wrote: post #119
kaashif wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> BTW, there is no such thing as an artificial diamond. A manufactured diamond is 100% diamond What do you believe the distinction between artificial and manufactured is? As far as I'm aware, they're almost synonyms. Dictionaries literally list "man made" as one of the definitions of artificial.

A man-made television isn't an artificial television; a man-made taco isn't an artificial taco. Man-made beef and artificial beef are both the same thing: a not-beef beef substitute. Beef is by definition cow-made. Man-made diamonds are just diamonds.

[dead]

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#142

Post by mholt »

Howard Tracy Hall's descendant is my sister-in-law. They have lots of his stories in their family history, and she wrote a book for children about the process of inventing his process for the artificial diamond [0]. An uplifting and inspiring story that simplifies things for a child to understand.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Boy-Creation-Diamonds-Tracy/d...

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#143

Post by db48x »

hammock wrote: post #127
Animats wrote: post #105

That's a good article. The whole history is there. The commercial side has made huge progress, too. Look up "diamond making machine" on Alibaba. You can buy a high-pressure, high temperature six sided press for about US$200,000. A chemical vapor deposition machine is about the same price. De Beers, the diamond cartel, has an R&D operation, Element Six. They sell synthetic diamonds for lasers and other exotic applicat…

Incredible, great info. We are now living in the Diamond Age.

Well, not quite. They were making diamond windows from atmospheric carbon dioxide at room temperature in household machines or machines you could rent at the post office. We’re a ways off from that yet.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#144

Post by cyberax »

indoordin0saur wrote: post #33
gruntledfangler wrote: post #23

“ Lab diamonds are a testament to the principle that what nature can do, man is capable of doing better.” Profound hubris in an otherwise interesting article.

Would love to see us turn iron into gold as well as nature does with supernovas.

You can do that in an accelerator. It's not going to be cost-effective for a long time, though.

Once we get to asteroid mining, we'll be able to get gold cheaply enough to not care about it. On Earth, most of the gold sank into the planet's core because it dissolves well in molten iron. So the gold that we're mining comes mostly from meteorites.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#145

Post by justinparus »

djtango wrote: post #28
throwaway48476 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Veblen good.

Because synthetic diamonds are indistinguishable to the naked eye (IIRC a trained eye with a magnifying glass can spot faint nitrogen impurities which are characteristic of natural diamonds) the thing you're really paying for is the piece of paper, the certificate. You're not really paying for carbon allotrope. So it's less like gold which is fungible and a more natural form of money. Diamonds feel more like an NFT..…

Agreed. So much so I wonder if they engrave all lab-grown ones, so they don’t get mixed up easily with mined and ruin their price.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#146

Post by db48x »

acchow wrote: post #110
gwbas1c wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's based on supply and demand. In 2012, when I was shopping for an engagement ring, a natural 2ct diamond cost $250,000. (I bought a 2ct moissanite for much, much less, and my wife is very happy with it.) When I looked in fall 2023, a natural 2ct diamond cost $20,000. That's a loss of over 90% of value, not counting inflation! (Now the supply of diamonds is much higher, and the demand for natural diamonds is much l…

> also wonder if impurities will become fashionable, just to show that a specific diamond is actually natural and can't be made in a lab. Why can’t you add impurities when manufacturing a diamond? “Doping”

You can, but a flaw in a gem is usually an inclusion of some other mineral, a crack, or a hollow space.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#147

Post by mNovak »

consteval wrote: post #118
Xenoamorphous wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never bought a diamond in my life and have zero intention of doing so, but I can see how to some people there would be the appeal of knowing that a diamond came from some rock where it had stayed untouched for millions of years vs. an artificial one made in some China lab last month.

I think the value of diamonds has always been their rarity and cost. Historically, for married women this allowed them some financial strength and safety net. Of course as time goes on that function becomes less useful, but the idea has still stuck around a bit. I predict people will turn to other gemstones, or will stick to "natural" diamonds and maybe even get them certified and stuff, producing another artificial…

Diamonds are already certified by GIA, so that you prove their clarity and quality and such (which no untrained observer would be able to differentiate)

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#148

Post by bell-cot »

gruntledfangler wrote: post #23

“ Lab diamonds are a testament to the principle that what nature can do, man is capable of doing better.” Profound hubris in an otherwise interesting article.

Doing "better" isn't so hard...when you get to pick the metric.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#149

Post by heavenlyblue »

djtango wrote: post #28
throwaway48476 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Veblen good.

Because synthetic diamonds are indistinguishable to the naked eye (IIRC a trained eye with a magnifying glass can spot faint nitrogen impurities which are characteristic of natural diamonds) the thing you're really paying for is the piece of paper, the certificate. You're not really paying for carbon allotrope. So it's less like gold which is fungible and a more natural form of money. Diamonds feel more like an NFT..…

In fact, De Beers have been agressively hiring for their osn blockchain-for-diamonds project.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#150

Post by anjel »

consteval wrote: post #118
Xenoamorphous wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never bought a diamond in my life and have zero intention of doing so, but I can see how to some people there would be the appeal of knowing that a diamond came from some rock where it had stayed untouched for millions of years vs. an artificial one made in some China lab last month.

I think the value of diamonds has always been their rarity and cost. Historically, for married women this allowed them some financial strength and safety net. Of course as time goes on that function becomes less useful, but the idea has still stuck around a bit. I predict people will turn to other gemstones, or will stick to "natural" diamonds and maybe even get them certified and stuff, producing another artificial…

You omit functional value referred somewhat euphemistically as "portable wealth." See also: why doesn't the US circulate 1000 dollar bills?
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