What Are Diamonds Made of?
We learned the definition of an element in our study of water and other substances. Many things which were at one time thought by our wisest men to be elements were later found to be compounds of other substances. Water is one of these which we have learned is really not an element at all, but compounded from two gaseous elements, hydrogen and oxygen.
One of the most important elements in the world is the one out of which diamonds are formed. Not because diamonds are so valuable, but because the element referred to, carbon, is found in every tissue of every living thing, both animal and mineral. This carbon is one of the most useful of all elements, but is found in and used by living things always in combination with some other substance. Carbon is combustible, forming carbonic acid gas, from which the earth’s vegetation secures its necessary carbon, which is very great in amount.
When heat is made to act in certain ways on the tissues of animal and vegetable life we get charcoal, lampblack and coke. Carbon will combine with more other substances than any of the other known elements. Its wonders lie in the fact that under various treatments it produces altogether different looking things, although remaining as pure carbon. Our diamonds, for instance, are pure carbon, but our lead pencils, that is, the part we write with, are also pure carbon, and the coal we burn is carbon also. It would be hard to say which of these three forms of pure carbon is most valuable to the world. A great many rich people might say diamonds, while the poor people would surely say coal, especially if you asked them in winter, while the people who write books, and newspaper reporters, would probably say lead-pencils. However, it would be better to choose diamonds, for if you have them you can always trade them for coal or lead-pencils. A very small diamond will buy quite a lot of either coal or lead-pencils. Carbon is one of the solid elements which are not metals. A great many of the important elements in the group of solids are metals.