Star made of complete diamond!

**StephenT** · 03-14-2008 04:36 AM

Apparently, when a white dwarf star cools down and leaves it's core behind, the carbon in the core is compressed and turns into a giant diamond! This star that they found has a diameter of 4000 km and is 10 billion trillion trillion carats!

In 5 billion years, our sun will turn into a diamond, so set your calender dates.

The best part:

They named it Lucy! *Hums Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds*

BBC Report

**Jeff777** · 03-14-2008 04:55 AM

-looks around room- Now where'd I put that giant lasso...

**Soldier** · 03-14-2008 04:58 AM

well if NASA could get there when they got back they wouldnt have any problems with money. (of course how many thousands of years of space travel is it away?)

**Spartiate** · 03-14-2008 05:01 AM

Aren't there supposed to be giant diamonds floating around in the mantle? Not star sized, but at least "WTF???" big...

**ExoByte** · 03-14-2008 05:01 AM

They might as well use that diamond as God's wedding ring.

**Marvo** · 03-14-2008 04:03 PM

I Am Going To Be Rich!

**skysaw** · 03-14-2008 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by Soldier

well if NASA could get there when they got back they wouldnt have any problems with money. (of course how many thousands of years of space travel is it away?)

Introducing that much diamond into the market is the fastest way of making all diamonds worthless!

**Ynot** · 03-14-2008 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by skysaw

Introducing that much diamond into the market is the fastest way of making all diamonds worthless!

diamonds are worthless anyway (or should be)

you can manufacture diamond quite readily & cheaply

Manufactued diamond is used in diamond cutters
diamond wafers are used in electronics (as a semi-conductor)
also used as an electrode in the treatment of contaminated water

there's also something about diamond that makes it interesting for microwave radiation, but I forget exactly what that is

No, these diamonds weren't formed naturally
they didn't come out of the ground
they were produced in a lab, but so what?

The diamond trade is largely artificial
and based on deliberate restriction of supply

**Spartiate** · 03-14-2008 04:36 PM

If diamonds drop in value, wouldn`t they lose their status as valuable jewlery items (i.e. not be used anymore)?

**Ynot** · 03-14-2008 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by Spartiate

If diamonds drop in value, wouldn`t they lose their status as valuable jewlery items (i.e. not be used anymore)?

they are far more "useful" for industrial processes than as jewellery
but yes, probably

but, so what?

**Spartiate** · 03-14-2008 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by Ynot

they are far more "useful" for industrial processes than as jewellery
but yes, probably

but, so what?

Well what`s jewlery going to be made of without diamonds

. "Honey, I bought you these rhenium ear rings!"

**Ynot** · 03-14-2008 04:58 PM

well, with manufactured diamond,
you could make furniture out of it

Honey, I didn't buy you those diamond earrings
I made you a diamond chair instead
it's a bit hard
so I bought a cushion as well

**AspirationRealized** · 03-14-2008 05:02 PM

The whole diamond business is bullshit. From whore-esque women who judge men how how expensive the ring is (not the fact that he worked his ass off to afford the blasted thing, and his rent, in the same month), to the people who sell them.

The indians lost America because of little shiny tidbits. Couldn't we learn from their mistake?

I couldn't care less about a huge diamond.

**Amethyst Star** · 03-14-2008 06:27 PM

Perhaps we could focus a giant beam of light through it.... What use that would be? I don't know. I'm at work and I get a little stir-crazy.

**Mes Tarrant** · 03-14-2008 06:35 PM

I don't like diamond jewelry. Old people wear it. Unless it's an engagement ring. I wouldn't mind a lab-produced diamond. Hell, is there any difference between the two anyway?

**Ynot** · 03-14-2008 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

Hell, is there any difference between the two anyway?

imperfections and impurities have to be added deliberately

**wasup** · 03-14-2008 06:47 PM

Uh, aspiration, to me it has nothing to do with aesthetics really. I mean as mentioned, having such a star "available" to the public would not make people rich, diamonds would just drop in value an incredible amount. But diamonds are very useful for industrial and technological applications, though.

**R.D.735** · 03-14-2008 06:52 PM

Diamond is an excellent material for industrial, computing, and optical applications. It would be great if mining such a diamond were feasible (white dwarfs have masses comparable to the sun and are still very hot).

**Ynot** · 03-14-2008 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by R.D.735

Diamond is an excellent material for industrial, computing, and optical applications. It would be great if mining such a diamond were feasible (white dwarfs have masses comparable to the sun and are still very hot).

We can make in in a lab !!
it's pure carbon
same thing pencils are made of

**StephenT** · 03-14-2008 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by Ynot

We can make in in a lab !!
it's pure carbon
same thing pencils are made of

I'm going to try to sell my pencils for $1000 as potential diamonds.

When I die, maybe I could be turned into a diamond, then launched into space! A combination of the two best ways to have your body fucked up while you're dead.

I could go join Jerry Garcia and Timmy Leary in diamond form.

**Sornaensis** · 03-14-2008 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by Stephent91

Apparently, when a white dwarf star cools down and leaves it's core behind, the carbon in the core is compressed and turns into a giant diamond! This star that they found has a diameter of 4000 km and is 10 billion trillion trillion carats!

In 5 billion years, our sun will turn into a diamond, so set your calender dates.

The best part:

They named it Lucy! *Hums Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds*

BBC Report

So this is why we haven't discovered life on any exoplanets yet...