Making diamonds using an acetylene torch

[JW Custom]

and then put the diamond in a ring which you give to your wife to be.... it's a win-win situation

[walker]

Hi all

The process is high temperature gas deposition in order to grow the diamond crystal. Growing crystals is something you did in high school chemistry with copper sulphate. So the concept is not that unusual.

The key factor is to have the atoms there in the correct environment. In the case of copper sulphate, you add a seed crystal suspended in a saturated solution of copper sulphate and allow water to evaporate. The crystal of the seed forms the scaffolding on which a larger crystal grows.

How much $$$ in form of acetylene do you burn in 5-8 hours and how much worth is the diamond you'll get? I sense a catch22 lol

On the matter of energy as described above by ])rStrangelove, he is within this narrow case correct but! this is a subject most people misunderstand, because in general our day to day experience of the supply of energy as a finite sum in the form of electricity we extract from finite fossil fuels.

In fact there is NO ENERGY CRYSIS! What there is; is a crisis of energy transport and SUPPLY! Largely caused by an over reliance on the the fossil fuel economy to transport a fossil fuel. As we increasingly shift to the hydrogen transport supply model the energy supply crisis will disappear. It is as inevitable as water flowing down hill.

That is why aluminium is largely produced in places where there is an excess of energy; such as out of the way hydroelectric locations way back in the backwoods. Where the cost of supplying the electricity to the market is more expensive than using the energy to smelt aluminum via electrolysis.

In fact there is an abundance of energy in the world millions of times more than we need. Via Geothermal, Wind and Solar power. We just do not use much of it yet; owing to the entrenched economic and political power of the oligopoly fossil fuel industry. As the Hydrogen energy transport system begins to take hold, that monopoly oil blockade on the supply of transportable energy to the worlds economies will die out.

To take this as an example one could set up a factory in New Zealand, Hawaii or Iceland provide a carbon plasma environment heated by geothermal power which each of those locations have in more or less unlimited amounts. You then manufacture very large Diamond crystals, though I think De Beers would do all their not inconsiderable power to stop you. Though if they had any sense, they would in fact start the industry, because as a material diamond is the big industry of the future, but large entrenched dinosaur industries rarely see their inevitable extinction coming and plan an evolution out of it.

Kind Regards walker

[PELHAM]

To take this as an example one could set up a factory in New Zealand, Hawaii or Iceland provide a carbon plasma environment heated by geothermal power which each of those locations have in more or less unlimited amounts. You then manufacture very large Diamond crystals, though I think De Beers would do all their not inconsiderable power to stop you. Though if they had any sense, they would in fact start the industry, because as a material diamond is the big industry of the future, but large entrenched dinosaur industries rarely see their inevitable extinction coming and plan an evolution out of it.

Kind Regards walker

De Beers are interested in pretty natural diamonds for jewellery and bling.

Single crystal diamond sheets for industrial applications and man made gemstones grown in the process you describe are a different market.

I don't know if De Beers are interested in that or not but the markets for natural and industrial diamonds are discrete entities. They actually have laser spectroscopy to tell them apart as industrial stones fetch a far lower price than natural stones. The opportunity for fraud is obvious as there is an endless supply of rich shallow people lol.

I'm all in favour of starting this up in Iceland - when they make some cash they can pay Europe back all the money they effectively stole.

I did not realise there was a socialist mantra on rocks? You ok Walker? You seem to be getting a bit fanatical.

[walker]

Hi PELHAM

Nothing socialist about it. Unless you count De Beers as socialist. My argument is a capitalist economic one against protectionism by entrenched industries which is obviously counter the open market.

An Aside Economics Capitalism vs Conservatism
It is the nature of all existing players in a market that they become dependent on their position in the market; it is called the "Entrenched Player's Dilemma" it is the essence of conservatism and the inevitable seeds of its own down fall.

Conservatives are essentially about conserving the status quo for their membership and preventing the operation of open liberal markets which are disruptive to entrenched and fossilised capitol; whether that be a landed aristocracy or the airs of a post industrial revolution, or the airs of the capitol market management industry. In each case conservatives act just like any union does to preserve its members wages. In this way conservatives are more like the apparatchiks of communism.

I see little value in continuing to have any capitol management structure as in all honesty computers are doing it better, the sooner we rationalise the whole capital management industry the better.

And as to the idle dole walla heirs and heiresses of past industries continuing to claim their welfare cheques long after their productive parents grandparents and great grandparents ad infinitum have shuffled off their mortal coil, sorry but that ain't capitalism it is welfare for those who are too lazy and do not deserve it.

Back to De Beers!
De Beers is in an almost monopolistic position in the Diamond market and has actualy been investigated charged and found guilty of market fixing on more than one occasion. It is also primarily an industrial diamond supplier and not just gems as you allude.

However my key point is that like any Entrenched industry it faces the "Entrenched Player's Dilemma" and that it is rare for an industry leader, particularly a nearly monopolistic one to embrace change and evolve in to the next stage of a changing market. Primarily like all inherently conservative organisations it resists change with all its entrenched power. An example of De Beers older culture would be its refusal to release industrial Diamonds to the US during WWII as not too unsurprisingly it was pro Hitler, if De Beers were to follow that culture it might for instance buy up patents on industrial Gas Deposition methods of producing diamonds in order to prevent market entrants from using them.

A more enlightened De Beers Business Culture might instead embrace the idea and look to be Tescos/Walmart rather than a bespoke Jewelers.

Kind Regards walker

[DMarkwick]

I'm all in favour of starting this up in Iceland - when they make some cash they can pay Europe back all the money they effectively stole.

... or another way of describing it, refusing to pay a bill they effectively didn't run up

But in any case they seem to be doing fine.

Link.

[PELHAM]

... or another way of describing it, refusing to pay a bill they effectively didn't run up

But in any case they seem to be doing fine.

Link.

Thousands of investors lost their money when Iceland simply shut down their banks and refused to refund anyone. If you take money from somebody and then lose it and refuse to pay them back - that is effectively stealing.

Of course they are doing ok - they just shut everything down, wrote off all their debts and opened up again as normal.

Problem is who will trust them again?

[DMarkwick]

Thousands of investors lost their money when Iceland simply shut down their banks and refused to refund anyone. If you take money from somebody and then lose it and refuse to pay them back - that is effectively stealing.

I refer you to the last 2 years of the financial industry

Of course they are doing ok - they just shut everything down, wrote off all their debts and opened up again as normal.

Everyone should have done that. Why is the financial system immune from failure & market forces? As a species, we have become the nurturing titty for the abstract entity known as the financial institute, which cannot be allowed to fail for some reason.

Problem is who will trust them again?

Who will need to? At least the citizens of Iceland can trust their own government, which is more than I can say.