Diamonds normally takes billions of years to form. It is formed naturally under high pressure and temperature. But a group of scientists have not developed diamond in a lab in room temperature. This is the first time that diamonds are developed in a lab in room temperature.
The group of scientists are from Australian National University, University of Sydney, RMIT University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They published their findings in journal Small.
The scientists said that they used high pressure “equivalent of 640 African elephants on the tip of one ballet shoe” for developing two types of diamonds.
Australian National University physics professor and co lead researcher Jodie Bradby said that diamonds are usually formed under high pressure and temperature, normally about 150 kilometers deep in the Earth.
The scientists unexpectedly discovered that Lonsdaleite and regular diamond can be formed at normal room temperatures by just applying high pressures. This pressure equals to 640 African elephants on the tip of a ballet shoe. Bradby said that the diamonds are formed in room temperature by giving a particular twist to the pressure applied. He said that the particular twist in the carbon allowed the atoms to move into place and form Lonsdaleite and regular diamond.
The researchers said that the diamonds they developed only formed in the middle of these Lonsdaleite veins. Lonsdaleite is named after crystallographer Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, the first woman elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society. It has a different crystal structure than the regular diamond.
