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Diamond is extremely strong owing to its crystal structure, known as diamond cubic, in which each carbon atom has four neighbors covalently bonded to it. Bulk cubic boron nitride (c-BN) is nearly as hard as diamond. Diamond reacts with some materials, such as steel, and c-BN wears less when cutting or abrading such material. [4]
Main diamond producing countries. Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic.Diamond as a form of carbon is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insoluble in water.
The short B-N (1.57 Å) bond is close to the diamond C-C bond length (1.54 Å), that results in strong covalent bonding between atoms in the same fashion as in diamond. The slight decrease in covalency for B-N bonds compared to C-C bonds reduces the hardness from ~100 GPa for diamond down to 48 GPa in c-BN.
Diamonds with higher color grades are rarer, in higher demand, and therefore more expensive, than lower color grades. Oddly enough, diamonds graded Z are also rare, and the bright yellow color is also highly valued. Diamonds graded D–F are considered "colorless", G–J are considered "near-colorless", K–M are "slightly colored".
The huge diamond is steeped in history and controversy over how it came to be in the possession of British royalty
“The energy needed to grow lab-grown [diamonds] is enormous, so your lab-grown diamonds are only as clean as that energy source.” There have been ethical issues with diamond mining in the past.
The diamond, which has yet to be named, is the second-largest to be discovered since the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond was found 119 years ago in South Africa in 1905, CNN reported.
Diamond and graphite provide examples of cleavage. Each is composed solely of a single element, carbon. In diamond, each carbon atom is bonded to four others in a tetrahedral pattern with short covalent bonds. The planes of weakness (cleavage planes) in a diamond are in four directions, following the faces of the octahedron.