Diamonds are an excellent investment, whether purchasing one for personal use or holding onto it until values increase. But to make an informed decision, you must know about the structure of diamond. It increases your ability to purchase a suitable diamond, as you won’t be fooled by low-value stones. Without further ado, here’s what you should know about diamond structure.
To understand the chemistry behind diamonds, it’s important to start with the basic element of a diamond’s structure: carbon. Diamonds are the hardest substance on earth, but it’s not solely because of carbon. Rather, it’s because of the way carbon is arranged that diamonds are so tough. The gemstone comprises countless repeating units of carbon atoms.
Each atom is connected to four other atoms through a covalent bond. The covalent bond is the strongest because of how atoms evenly share electrons. When electrons are shared equally, there’s no risk of instability or conflict that can weaken the bond.
This carbon exists in the form of graphite and crystallizes at high pressure and temperatures. If you’ve seen graphite, such as in pencils, you’ll know it's nowhere near as hard as carbon. That’s because graphite must pass an activation barrier before crystallizing. So even if graphite becomes a diamond crystal, it won’t turn back into graphite. That’s because converting it will require as much heat as destroying and rebuilding the lattice.
Each atom is in a rigid tetrahedral diamond structure where it maintains the same amount of distance from other carbon atoms. Each unit comprises eight atoms arranged in a highly stable cube-like network. Because of their rigidity, diamonds have a much higher hardness level and melting point.
A diamond is a solid form of carbon in which atoms are grouped according to a cubic crystal structure diamond. Therefore, it has a cubic and crystallographic structure. In its crystal form, a diamond has a face-centered lattice. This set of points will determine the structure of a particle forming the crystal.
The most common crystal structure of a diamond is the cubic network comprising many unit cells, better known as the face-centered lattice. Each cell is a repeating unit in the lattice and is packed closely with other cells. Crystals become different shapes, also called' crystal habits, ' depending on the cubic form and how they are symmetrically arranged atoms.
A diamond’s crystal habit is the main factor that determines the external shape of a crystal. The common one is the eight-sided octahedron, also commonly known as a diamond shape. Diamond crystals can also appear as dodecahedra, cubes, or combinations of different crystal habits. Aside from two types of shapes, these crystal structures are euhedral.
One of the exceptions is the macle, which is a flat form of a diamond. It's also a composite crystal with different unit cells in the same structure. The other class is that of etched crystals, so they have a rounded surface and, in some cases, elongated shapes.
Pure diamond crystals don’t have completely smooth surfaces. Rather, they have trigons, which are indented or raised triangular growths. Additionally, a diamond’s symmetrical structure means that each crystal has the right cleavage in four lines. So when you cut a diamond, you won’t see any jagged edges since it separates along these directions.
These lines occur because a crystal structure diamond has minimal chemical bonds along the lines of its octahedral face. In contrast, other directions don’t allow for such a cleavage. While cutting a diamond to improve its appearance, professional cutters use these lines to facet diamonds.
Two main physical properties determine a diamond’s outward appearance. This includes the crystal structure and crystal habit. The mechanical properties of crystal structure diamond are as follows:
At room temperature, a diamond doesn’t react with any chemical compound, including strong acids and bases. Moreover, it has a low thermal expansion coefficient, which means that it doesn’t expand upon heating.
Some of the applications of a tetrahedral diamond structure include the following:
Some of the fields that use diamonds include the tech, automotive, and cosmetics industries. The uses of diamonds are diverse and versatile, with applications ranging from jewelry to industrial machinery. Because of the unmatched hardness of the structure of a diamond, it’s used for polishing, cutting, and drilling. In fact, the structure of a diamond is so strong that it's often used in high-pressure experiments, high-tech industries, such as electronics and telecommunications and even in medical procedures.
To sum it up, the structure of a diamond is made up of carbon, and each atom exists in a tetrahedral structure. Depending on their crystal habits, diamonds can come in different shapes, like octahedrons or cubes. They don't have a smooth surface but rather indented or raised trigons. Diamonds are characterized by their high hardness level, melting point, and thermal conductivity. It has a high demand due to applications in the pharmaceutical, automotive, tech, investment asset, and, most importantly, jewelry industries. While you don’t have to be an expert in chemistry to understand a diamond’s structure, knowing the basics will help you choose the right one.
It has industrial uses such as cutting glass, thermal management, and pharmaceutical uses as diagnostic and detection tools for drug delivery.
They usually occur in twinned or rounded octahedral and euhedral shapes.
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