Tag Archives: diamonds
A Question of Coating Diamonds to Reduce Dirt
Given that diamonds can easily catch oils and become dirty if we coat the surface with fluorine atoms can we make diamonds oil resistant and no longer require cleaning like Teflon coated pans? This question was asked on the question … Continue reading
The Professor Views some Huge Diamonds
The Professor from Periodic Videos is at it again. Alrosa let him handle some huge diamonds, including a few lovely coloured ones and he explores fluorescence again. He discusses types of cut briefly. We also get to see the cutting … Continue reading
Answering Questions on Quora
Just before last Christmas, I started using the social website, quora.com. It’s a ‘question and answer’ site where anyone can post a question and anyone can take a shot at answering. It’s a bit of fun, but sometimes you come … Continue reading
The Professor Washes his Hands in Diamonds
Periodic Videos featured The Professor on a visit to an Alrosa diamond sorting facility. He shows us some amazing diamonds, including some coloured ones. Purple, pink, yellow, octahedrons, cubes, twins. Fluorescent colours. We also see a few unique shapes such … Continue reading
How Diamonds are Formed
In Known Only to Kings, I give a brief description of what we currently believe about how diamonds form. As I said, there is a lot we still don’t know about it, and if we did know more, it would … Continue reading
An Idea to Coat Diamonds with Teflon
I attempted to answer a Quora question about the possibility of coating diamonds with teflon so they would not need to be cleaned so often. I pointed out some possible problems with the idea. But it was certainly creative. It … Continue reading
Raw Footage of De Beers Diamond Sorting Rooms
Journeyman Pictures has dumped a quarter hour’s worth of unedited footage of a tour of De Beers’ sorting rooms by a Namibian Prime Ministerial delegation in 2000. It gives a rare look into how they sort rough diamonds by machine … Continue reading
Diamonds in English Literature – Twentieth Century Novels and Short Stories
King Solomon’s Mines. H Rider Haggard The climax of this novel has the heroes finding a secret cave filled with gold, diamonds and other treasure. But they are trapped in the cave when the evil witch doctor closes the heavy … Continue reading
Diamonds in English Literature – Victorian Novelists and Poets
The Diamond Necklace. Thomas Carlyle At a time when scientists were just beginning to understand gemstones and how they form, writers were experimenting with ideas that we now call ‘new age’. Spiritualism, Eastern mysticism, even fairies were catching not only … Continue reading
Diamonds in English Literary Culture – Elizabethan Drama
Love’s Labour’s Lost. William Shakespeare This play has an unusual ending for a Shakespearean comedy. Instead of every character getting married at the end, news of a death causes each couple to separate for a year. In the case of … Continue reading