Carbon: Synthetic Diamonds

Film info

Film summary

Diamonds take millions of years to form within the Earth's mantle, but now scientists are trying to produce them synthetically.

Key facts

• Diamonds take a long time to form in the Earth's mantle.
• Made only of carbon scientists have tried to produce them in the lab.
• The HTHP process, simulates high temperature, high pressure found in the Earth's mantle to produce small diamonds.
• The CVD, Chemical Vapor Deposition method, is a more successful method. It uses diamond 'seeds', hydrogen and methane to produce carbon atoms that latch on to the seed.