this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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Ah, there's the catch.
Not a catch, majority of diamonds are used in industries and need to be small.
It’s a catch when your perspective is hoping it will impact the negatives of the jewelry industry.
The problem wouldn't be fixed even then. The jewelery companies have people convinced that the only diamonds that are worth it are mined from the earth by a real human slave. Fixing that problem has nothing to do with gemstones.
Is this still the case? I feel like I've seen "conflict free" as a selling point for (presumably labgrown) diamonds.
Me too. I've also heard synthetic gemstones can have colours and structures unlike anything that can form naturally. I want one of those, so that nobody would mistake it for a mined stone.
Will never happen until De beers exits the stage or is forced to.
We already have incredibly easy to make and cheap diamonds that can rival and surpass any natural sized ones.
They do not sell nearly as well because De beers has convinced everyone natural diamonds are a scarce resource, while they have a monopoly on the supply, of which there is no actual scarcity.
What's the biggest synthetic diamond we've made so far? Has anyone made diamond spectacles or windows?
They're quite brittle, so probably not a window like you're thinking.
https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=15962
10mm diameter for just over £1000.
Ah, so still not quite Cullinan-scale yet. Optical quality is probably better though.
I'm surprised diamonds aren't used more for lenses. Given its high index of refraction, it seems like an ideal material.
Yeah, the optical quality seems to be the main point. I assume there's few fields where that level of precision is worth it though. I doubt we're about to see it on an iPhone any time soon.
For now. But diamonds are used for much more than simply jewelry. They have a vast number of industrial applications.
They do mention that. Likely have applications in industrial drilling and sandpaper
Shoe soles.
Really? That's pretty cool.
No, see my comment above. It's a reference to a Paul Simon song, "Diamonds on the soles of her shoes". While they might make the shoe soles last longer, they would be abrasive to flooring materials, and so not really practical at any price.
Ah thanks for the clarification. What was the point (ha!) of the shoes in the song? Surely it wasn't just scratching floors?
The song is a rich girl/ poor boy love song with some significant political commentary, made more palatable by the catchy tune. The rich girl is so wealthy she could afford to have diamonds on her shoe soles. This was released on Graceland in 1986. Diamonds were/are mined in South Africa - dug from the ground by poor South Africans. The whole story about DeBoers controlling the supply and price of diamonds may not have broken at that point. And even to this day we can't synthesize large 'jewelry' grade diamonds.
Wikipedia says otherwise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_diamond#Gemstones
Dang, and I was thinking it was time to put 'diamonds on the soles of my shoes.'
Calm down Paul
Slip out the back, Jack
Get a new plan, Stan
Fuck off, Geoff
Keep an eye on your kidney, Sydney.
Ta na na na
You can, just very small ones
I'm thinking it would be a bit rough on the floor boards. Paul got me interested, but it's not really practical.
They should really start with this