'Ave you seen zee stolen diaMOND, zee Peenk Pahnter?
Posted on 08/18/2003 9:12:19 AM PDT by bedolido
Setback for jewel industry is good news for high-tech
Two companies are manufacturing gem-quality diamonds that may break the DeBeers cartel and set off a high-tech craze for diamond chips much heartier than silicon, reports Wired Magazine's September issue.
The diamonds are flawless and can fool even the most expert of gemologists.
The natural conditions that produce diamonds have long been understood – put pure carbon under enough heat and pressure and it will crystallize into the hardest material known. But evolutionists have suggested it would require millions of years to reproduce the precise set of circumstances. Some have suggested the earth's diamonds were produced deep in the planet's mantle some 3.3 billion years ago.
While replicating the conditions in a lab isn't easy, many have tried. Since the mid-19th century, Wired reports, dozens of these modern alchemists have been injured in accidents and explosions while attempting to manufacture diamonds. Starting in the 1950s, engineers managed to produce tiny crystals for industrial purposes – to coat saws, drill bits and grinding wheels.
"But this summer, the first wave of gem-quality manufactured diamonds began to hit the market," the magazine reports. "They are grown in a warehouse in Florida by a roomful of Russian-designed machines spitting out 3-carat roughs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A second company, in Boston, has perfected a completely different process for making near-flawless diamonds and plans to begin marketing them by year's end. This sudden arrival of mass-produced gems threatens to alter the public's perception of diamonds – and to transform the $7 billion industry. More intriguing, it opens the door to the development of diamond-based semiconductors."
Diamond is not only the hardest substance known, it also has the highest thermal conductivity.
"Today's speedy microprocessors run hot – at upwards of 200 degrees Fahrenheit," says the report. "In fact, they can't go much faster without failing. Diamond microchips, on the other hand, could handle much higher temperatures, allowing them to run at speeds that would liquefy ordinary silicon. But manufacturers have been loath even to consider using the precious material, because it has never been possible to produce large diamond wafers affordably. With the arrival of Gemesis, the Florida-based company, and Apollo Diamond, in Boston, that is changing. Both startups plan to use the diamond jewelry business to finance their attempt to reshape the semiconducting world."
The sudden appearance of multi-carat, gem-quality synthetics has sent the DeBeers diamond cartel scrambling. Several years ago, it set up what it calls the Gem Defensive Program – a campaign to warn jewelers and the public about the arrival of manufactured diamonds. At no charge, the company is supplying gem labs with sophisticated machines designed to help distinguish man-made from mined stones.
"I was in combat in Korea and 'Nam," says Gemesis founder Carter Clarke. "You better believe that I can handle the diamond business." His company has 27 diamond-making machines up and running – with 250 planned – at his factory outside Sarasota, Fla.
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I guess you'll just have to give her a basket of hands.
Whose finger is in my salad?
But honey, those are probably fake. Wouldn't you rather have a 60 inch plasma screen TV instead?
No dog at all, even though I'm a jeweler and sell colored gems -- not diamonds. I wouldn't care if DeBeers vanished this instant. I'm just interested in the truth. . You made the blanket statement that "Diamonds are death."
Think about it: diamonds are probably the most portable and liquid store of wealth available. When Jews fled Hitler's Germany they brought diamonds sewn into the hems of their garments with them to transfer wealth to America. Gold is a great store of wealth but it's incredibly dense and heavy, as are platinum and other precious materials.
So is it any wonder that criminals of all types use diamonds to transact their nefarious business? Al Quaeda is probably the world's largest trafficker in honey as a means of generating capital. Should we condemn honey co-ops?
DeBeers has traditionally engaged in some pretty rough business practices to keep control of diamond supplies. But those times are in the past. DeBeers has effectively lost control of the market to Australia, Canada and incrementally, Russia. You're operating on obsolete information.
He's mentioned in "Blood Diamonds" too. The author's last name is Campbell, and the book was in my library.
There's also a very interesting discussion of DeBeers mechanism to dissociate themselves from the "conflict diamond" trade. They should get points for effort, but since the "Kimberley Process" depends on everyone in the sequence, from digger to retailer, being HONEST, well ...
I've never cared much for diamonds - although there are a couple of tiny ones in my engagement ring, along with a pretty blue topaz - but even if I did, I wouldn't take one now.
Mama needs a Toshiba Satellite S505 and all wireless accessories. Or a new kitchen.
'Ave you seen zee stolen diaMOND, zee Peenk Pahnter?
Until they can grow crystals as big around as your leg, they will only be used for exotic chips.
While acknowledging the usefulness of the product for the industries needing them, as a consumer of diamonds for the sake of their long-forming beauty, I find this a poignant statement.
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