Steven Lundquist, age 10, of Des Moines, Iowa, for his question?
HOW HARD ARE DIAMONDS?
Man made industrial diamonds are much in demand because the need for the hard stones cannot be met by the supply of natural diamonds. The man made stones were first produced in 1955 by a team of scientists at the General Electric Research Laboratory. But the man made stones are not now sold as jewelry because they cost so much more to produce than natural diamonds cost.
Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance known to man. Because of its hardness, the diamond is the most valuable and enduring of all gem stones.
Minerals are arranged on a scale of hardness by scientists. The scale runs from 1 to 10, with the diamond and borazon being the only minerals to rate Number 10.
Borazon, by the way, is an artificially produced crystal that has the hardness of a diamond. Borazon can withstand temperatures of over 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit while diamonds burn at 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit.
Eighty percent of the world's diamonds are suitable only for industrial use.
Industrial diamonds include stones that are imperfectly formed, contain flaws or have poor color. They are necessary because manufacturers of automobiles, airplanes and other kinds of engines and machinery began to use harder metals and to design engines and motors which require greater accuracy in shaping the parts.
Only diamonds can be used in such work because of their extreme hardness.
Diamonds are used in industry to cut, grind and bore very hard metal quickly and accurately. Sometimes, whole rough diamonds are set into industrial tools. Other times, the diamonds are crushed and the diamond dust is baked into the industrial tools.
Sometimes, diamonds are cut to some special shape before they are set into tools. Diamonds are set in the ends of drills used in mining. Very fine wire is drawn to size through diamonds in which tapering holes have been cut.
Diamonds have also found their way into the world of music. A permanent, almost indestructible hard diamond needle is used in almost all record players today.
Researchers have found that by adding boron to diamonds, they turn into semiconductors. Semiconductors are materials with special electrical properties. They are used to make transistors and other electronic equipment.
Imitation diamonds are jewelry items that are made to resemble genuine diamonds. They do not have the hardness of real diamonds and so they soon show scratches and other signs of wear.