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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

#291

Post by listenallyall »

derriz wrote: post #167
crazygringo wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the same reason you can make a print of a classic painting, and digitally brighten and re-saturate the colors to counteract the darkening and yellowing of the original with age. Remove all of the cracking too. And you'll still only be able to sell the print for tens of dollars, while the original is worth millions. People attach value to authenticity and originals and tradition, however they define that.

> People attach value to authenticity and originals and tradition, however they define that. That (some) people might attach (some) value to those attributes does not guarantee that the monetary value will be preserved. Pre-20th century antique "brown" furniture is a notorious example - where market value has collapsed in the last few decades as fashion has shifted.

But something else - authentic mid-modern furniture like Eames chairs - took its place. Old furniture is still in very high demand (and expensive), it's just that the specific pieces have changed.

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

#292

Post by userbinator »

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…

The machinery for that comes mostly from China and India.

It's worth noting that the Chinese word for diamond is literally "drill stone", which highlights its application as an abrasive more than jewelry.

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

#293

Post by perth »

opan wrote: post #222
amelius wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we can have diamond-based scratch protection on smartphones?

Don't we already have good scratch protection? Cracks from drops seem like the main issue.

So scratching definitely still happens, both on sapphire camera lenses and new scratch-resistant screen technology. I’ve mainly had it happen with concrete. I think concrete sometimes just has some rocks in it that have a very high hardness because I’ve gotten pretty thick scratches in new iPhones when they’ve taken a slide over a rough concrete sidewalk due to a drop while walking.

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

#294

Post by saghm »

When my fiancee and I got engaged last year, we bought our rings from a place that (in addition to having a robust process that allowed us to avoid having to go anywhere in person) uses lab-grown gemstones. Not only is the quality quite high and the color impressive (she picked a pink sapphire), the prices were much lower than we expected. I'm not really sure why anyone would want a "real" diamond at this point; you can get a better one for cheaper without any ethical qualms, and in my opinion the fact that we can basically assemble the gemstones we want at the molecular level is incredibly cool from an science nerd perspective.

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

#295

Post by wonderwonder »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #11

Over the past 10 years, there has been an explosion in cheap lab diamond and moissanite producers in China and India. 10 years ago, it was hard to find quality lab diamonds at a reasonable price, and moissanite was still reasonably expensive at $400-600/ct. Today, given cutthroat competition and "race to the bottom" pricing strategies, lab diamonds are ubiquitous, extremely high quality, and cheap. Less than $200/ct…

Radio waves around me are just constant drumbeat from large jewelry stores about why its such a bad idea to buy a synthetic diamond as it wont hold its value. They already know what is coming.

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

#296

Post by db48x »

Terr_ wrote: post #257
db48x wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps they use a diamond frame filled in with graphene instead. Still seems pretty unlikely though. And probably too easy to puncture, ruining the vacuum. Or perhaps they just build surfaces out of more complicated things than carbon. Hydrocarbons could be as easily assembled as diamond with similar techniques, and are a lot lighter than pure carbon. Plus they would want to put electronic advertising on the surface…

I was thinking about smaller bubbles and aerogels, but when the volume changes by a factor of 0.10, the thickness-budget only changes by a factor of ~0.46. So while many smaller spheres--or pockets sharing walls--might be easier to engineer, the square-cube law [0] eats away at your lifting-power as everything becomes mostly-diamond with very little air-displacing vacuum. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square%E2%8…

Yup, the scaling works the wrong way for small objects. A vacuum–zeppelin makes a lot more sense than a beach ball.

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

#297

Post by hammock »

db48x wrote: post #143
hammock wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I guess there is some sci-fi book everyone has read but me?

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

#298

Post by chasil »

amelius wrote: post #211
_ph_ wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sure, diamonds would make awful eyeglasses. While their index of refraction is high, which makes glasses thin, their chromatic dispersion is high. That is the very thing which makes their glitter so colorful. For good optical systems you want to try to reduce the dispersion, to 0, if possible. Another story is the scratch-resistance. For that it would be sufficient to coat the surface of the lens with a t…

Maybe we can have diamond-based scratch protection on smartphones?

Gorilla glass is already some percentage of "Prince Rupert's Drop" in strength.

This is not sufficient?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_drop

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

#299

Post by pie_flavor »

amelius wrote: post #211
_ph_ wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sure, diamonds would make awful eyeglasses. While their index of refraction is high, which makes glasses thin, their chromatic dispersion is high. That is the very thing which makes their glitter so colorful. For good optical systems you want to try to reduce the dispersion, to 0, if possible. Another story is the scratch-resistance. For that it would be sufficient to coat the surface of the lens with a t…

Maybe we can have diamond-based scratch protection on smartphones?

It's possible, and I remember seeing a very expensive prototype for it, but sapphire is already Good Enough for almost any cause of scratching you're likely to find.

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

#300

Post by ninetyninenine »

wkat4242 wrote: post #239
dimgl wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Women expect it. It's that simple.

Hmm that sounds a bit shallow and materialistic tbh. But I have to say I'm an outlier anyway, I've never been married and I prefer polyamorous relationships. And I've never had real money to speak of. So I'm not really the right type. I do know the families with a big house and fancy dinner parties with Sunday silverware. But I tend to stay away from those settings :) I don't fit in and I don't even own a suit or dre…

It is shallow. Women want tribute or some sort of proof that you care. This is the true meaning of romance. Romance is essentially a man paying some sort of tribute to a woman mostly in the form of time, effort and/or money.
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