Treasure to Trash

Did you know that the diamonds are slowly being converted to graphite? This is a very-very slow process but undoubtedly exists. Graphite is the most stable form of carbon and has no special value. Diamond is extremely valuable and the second most stable but needs high pressure to remain as it is. Diamonds on (or near) the surface are not under the pressure needed so an unnoticeably slow conversion occurs.

Diamond is the hardest natural material known having extreme resistance to scratching. But it is not tough at all so don't try your hammer on it. If you insist on destroy your diamond then the most spectacular - and nevertheless a very expensive - method is to heat it to more than 800 degree Celsius where it converts to graphite quickly enough to observe.

The largest diamond found on Earth was the Cullinan, in 1905, which weighed 3,106 carats. But this is not the largest one we know about. In 2008, scientists discovered that a star, namely the BPM 37093, which is located 50 light years away from Earth has a diamond core 2,500 mile wide weighting approximately ten billion trillion trillion carats.