[Rockhounds] Re: Carbon Impurities in Diamond

[David Owen]

Earl,

Almost all naturally-mined diamonds have inclusions of softer black carbon in them that are considered impurities. This gives rise to the inclusion grading (VS, SI, I, etc). I'm not a professional geologist, so I'm not exactly sure how they form--I guess the heat and pressure aren't applied uniformly

Dave



>
Hi Kreigh,

Interesting article, especially when I think of how much tequila I've used
for other purposes.  I was struck by one sentence, though:  "The high
temperatures removed all of the tequila´s carbon impurities to result in
pure diamonds."  How can carbon be considered an impurity in diamond? 
(Maybe I'll think of something if I have a little more tequila...).

        Cheers-   Earl