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Today's Topics:
1. Diamonds can now be created in the lab in just 15 minutes
(Stephen Loosley)
2. Re: An odd change in spam email (Tom Worthington)
3. Re: Elon Musk: Starlink whipping the competition (Kim Holburn)
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2024 10:40:08 +0000
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Diamonds can now be created in the lab in just 15
minutes
Message-ID:
<sy5p282mb4409f284ada7261dfe847928c2...@sy5p282mb4409.ausp282.prod.outlook.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"
Diamonds can now be created from scratch in the lab in just 15 minutes
By Rodielon Putol
Earth.com staff writer:
https://www.earth.com/news/real-diamonds-can-now-be-created-from-scratch-in-the-lab-in-just-15-minutes/
In the pursuit of innovation, a group of scientists has achieved something
remarkable: they?ve found a way to create ?real? diamonds at normal room
temperature and pressure.
This breakthrough not only eliminates the need for a starter gem but also
drastically simplifies the process of producing lab-grown diamonds, making it
more efficient and potentially more accessible.
By challenging conventional methods, this discovery paves the way for a new era
in diamond synthesis.
How nature makes diamonds
Most diamonds start their journey about 90 to 150 miles beneath the surface, in
a part of the Earth?s mantle where temperatures soar to around 2,000 degrees
Fahrenheit, and pressures are mind-bogglingly high.
Under these extreme conditions, carbon atoms bond together in a unique crystal
structure, creating the hard, shiny gems we know and love.
But getting those diamonds to the surface is another story. Volcanic eruptions,
millions of years ago, brought diamonds closer to the Earth?s crust in rocks
called kimberlite or lamproite.
These eruptions were like express elevators, moving the diamonds upward quickly
enough to keep them intact under lower-pressure conditions.
Today, miners find these ancient gems in volcanic pipes or riverbeds where
erosion has carried them.
Mimicking extreme conditions in the lab
To mimic these natural conditions in the lab, scientists have been using a
method called high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) growth.
With this method, they have been simulating the same extreme conditions in
order to coerce dissolved carbon, in liquid metals like iron, to convert into
diamond around a starter gem.
Challenges of growing diamonds
This approach has its limitations. Incredible pressure and heat aren?t easy to
achieve or maintain in a lab setting. And, the size of the lab-made gems leaves
a bit to be desired.
The largest ones only reach about the size of a blueberry, and the process is
time-consuming.
Alternative methods, such as chemical vapor deposition, attempt to eliminate
some of HPHT?s limitations, such as the need for high pressures, but the
requirement for a starter diamond remains.
The new technique, developed by a team led by Rodney Ruoff, a physical chemist
at the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea, eliminates some of the
disadvantages of the above-mentioned synthesis processes.
According to Ruoff, he has been pondering new ways to grow diamonds for over a
decade now, challenging conventional thinking.
Secret to growing diamonds
The team?s method began with electrically heated gallium with a little bit of
silicon in a graphite crucible.
While gallium may sound exotic, it was actually chosen based on a previous
unrelated study that identified its ability to catalyze the formation of
graphene, a carbon cousin to diamond.
The team also invented a special chamber containing a 2.4-gallon crucible where
the gallium-silicon mix awaited.
This crucible chamber, designed to be at sea-level atmospheric pressure, was
ready to experiment in just 15 minutes. It allowed the experimental gas
mixtures to be changed rapidly and easily to determine the optimal blend.
After numerous trials, the scientists found that an optimal mixture of
gallium-nickel-iron, with a smattering of silicon, catalyzed the growth of
diamonds most efficiently.
Even more impressive was that diamonds appeared at the base of the crucible
within 15 minutes, and a more complete diamond film formed within two and a
half hours.
Mystery of diamond formation
The actual mechanism that leads to diamond formation deep within the Earth
isn?t yet completely understood.
However, the researchers believe that a decrease in temperature helps drive the
carbon from the methane towards the center of the crucible, where it coalesces
into a diamond.
The process seems reliant on silicon. Without it, no diamonds could be formed,
indicating the crucial role it plays as a seed for the carbon to crystallize
around.
Limitations of the new technique
Despite these thrilling advancements, the new technique isn?t without its own
limitations.
The diamonds produced using this method are minuscule, hundreds of thousands of
times smaller than those grown with the HPHT method. Hence, these diamonds are
far too small for jewelry applications.
However, their use in technological applications, such as drilling or
polishing, is a possibility. Due to the low pressure involved in the new
method, it might be feasible to significantly scale up diamond synthesis.
?In about a year or two, the world might have a clearer picture of things like
possible commercial impact,? Rodney Ruoff predicts optimistically.
This breakthrough is a remarkable reflection of the unceasing quest for
innovation that pushes the boundaries, and redefines the possible.
The intriguing discovery may even hint at an exciting new chapter in the
evolving story of synthetic gems, one that could reshape their production and
applications. Only time will tell how far this innovation will take us.
The full study was published in the journal Nature.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07339-7
??
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2024 08:10:49 +1100
From: Tom Worthington <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] An odd change in spam email
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
On 10/12/24 15:48, David wrote:
> Lately I've been going through the tedious process of migrating my email
> client from Thunderbird (which seems to me to be going through some crisis ...
Thunderbird is working fine for me. I simply stopped installing
upgrades. ;-)
>... compose my more complex DuckDuckGo searches quite carefully with an eye on
>how they might be parsed ...
I compose searches, and AI requests, as I would say them to a person.
--
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2024 09:27:28 +1100
From: Kim Holburn <[email protected]>
To: link <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [LINK] Elon Musk: Starlink whipping the competition
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
There was always an old, tried and tested technology that could have replaced
our aging copper and would have been many orders of
magnitude faster and much cheaper in the long run, but we chose stupid.
Starlink won't scale up if enough of the users in Asia start using it.
On 10/12/2024 4:44 pm, Stephen Loosley wrote:
> Elon Musk: Starlink whipping the competition
>
> Four times faster and much lower latency than NBN.
>
>
> By David Braue on Dec 10
> 2024https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2024/elon-musk-s-starlink-whipping-the-competition.html?ref=newsletter&deliveryName=DM24627
>
>
> NBN Co:? Sky Muster was not very impressive compared to Starlink
>
>
--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
+61 404072753
mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
------------------------------
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