Miracle? Geophysicist Turns Peanut Butter into a Diamond
Dino Lirios | | Nov 11, 2014 06:19 AM EST |
(Photo : Steve Jurvetson and Certified Su Via Flickr ) From Peanut Butter to Diamonds
A geophysicist from Germany has found a more expensive use for peanut butter other than partnering it with strawberry jam. He's found a way to make peanut butter into diamonds.
Dan Frost is trying to simulate conditions found in the Earth's lower mantle in his lab at the Bayersiches Geoinstitut.
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The lower mantle is more than 1,800 miles below the surface and experiences temperatures nearing 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit and pressures that are 1.3 million times greater than the air people breathe.
In his research on simulating the lower mantle's environment, Frost stumbled onto innovative ways of creating diamonds, said David Robson at BBC Future.
Diamonds consist of simple carbon atoms arranged into a crystal.
Frost's work started with the hypothesis that rocks get carbon dioxide (CO2) from the oceans. As the rocks were pulled into the mantle, really high pressures forced the CO2 out of the rocks. Once the rocks were free of the CO2, the iron in the mantle stripped it of its oxygen, as well.
This left naked carbon, which was then squished into diamonds by the high heat and temperatures deep underground.
When Frost tried to recreate his hypothesis, he found it was correct and was able to successfully duplicate it. He was essentially forging a diamond from thin air.
Frost went on to think that since all food substances -- and matter -- contain carbon, he and his team went to work on making diamonds from peanut butter.
While the hydrogen bonded to the carbon in peanut butter makes the process messier, and even though the transformation is slow, Frost was incredibly able to transform the peanut butter into a diamond.
Apart from making diamonds, the team hopes to build better superconductors and super-strong diamonds for industrial applications.
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