Diamonds...Nature's Anomaly

Public television reran a piece on diamonds. I've always been fascinated by them. As a child, I would stare and study the wedding set my mother had on her hands. The stones would wink no matter how they were turned like the stars that captured my attention at night. I played in a patch of sand next to my house and see "diamonds" sparkle in the grains. Of course, now I know it is glass or silicon. Very entrancing. (Yes, a la my precious in Lord of the Rings.)

Diamonds are an anomaly of nature. It is only through great geological forces and the patience of universal time that carbon can be transformed into diamonds. It is the hardest rock on earth. Light, when it passes through it, takes twice as long which means it holds light within it. The facets ground by master jewelers only showcases that momentary love of light the diamond has.

The most unique fact I love about diamonds is that they never decay. Carbon dating just doesn't work. All things in the earth emit some sort of radio activity and through the decay of the carbon, we are able to guess at the age. It is only when a diamond has an inclusion (a flaw) trapped within its compact molecules, we are able to carbon date that portion and the age gleaned can be up as much as 2 billions years. Depending on the elements surrounding it at the time of formation, is what the color of the diamond will be which according to the PBS piece ranges the color of the rainbow. The only color they are not able to figure out is pink. Gosh, there is so much more to say like how they can be pushed up from core of the earth through magma spewing during volcanic eruptions. Mines are usually set up around these ancient volcanic mounds.

A new thing in diamonds (no, I won't talk about the man-made ones or their use in electronics by NASA) is they have found that white dwarf stars have carbon cores. Our own sun when it dies, will be a giant diamond. Pretty incredible, huh? I've added the link so you need not get the full lesson from me. What brought this on? Two things, I found my mother's engagement ring that goes with the wedding band I wear on my pinky finger and the show on PBS that I must have seen at least four times already.

We are made of the same stuff as stars therefore we can loosely theorize that we are diamonds. The heat of life I think is what gets us whether that is stress or our ever elusive, love. For some people, it is easy to find love (good or bad). Sadly, I have had many little loves, but never the all encompassing kind. There was a glimmer of hope last year until I was quickly dispelled of that notion. Been batting around more than one man at the moment, but there is no molten lava heat of the all encompassing kind. Despite popular belief, sex is not all encompassing. (I apologize if you're one of them reading this entry, but I am always upfront with you.)

Owners of the most famous diamonds have long since gone, but their diamonds are still alive and passed along to new owners to enjoy their beauty and fire within. In that case, DeBeers has it right: a diamond is forever. While they keep making millions of dollars with that slogan, I will keep the fire within lit. Please bring silicone hand mitts if you're interested. My temperature runs in kelvins. Ha!
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Diamonds...Nature's Anomaly