Burn diamond. The Truth About Burning Diamonds: Unveiling the Flammable Nature of Carbon’s Hardest Form

Can diamonds really catch fire. How does the combustion process of diamonds work. What temperature is required to ignite a diamond. Are diamonds truly forever, or can they be destroyed by fire. How does the burning of diamonds compare to other materials.

The Surprising Flammability of Diamonds

Contrary to popular belief, diamonds are not indestructible. In fact, these precious gems can indeed be set ablaze. This revelation often comes as a shock to many, given the widespread perception of diamonds as eternal and unbreakable. But why exactly can diamonds burn?

The answer lies in their chemical composition. Diamonds are composed entirely of carbon atoms arranged in a crystalline structure. This carbon-based nature makes them susceptible to combustion, just like many other carbon-rich materials we encounter in our daily lives.

The Science Behind Diamond Combustion

The burning of a diamond is a prime example of carbon combustion. During this process, carbon atoms break their existing bonds and form new ones with oxygen atoms. This reaction releases energy, which can then propagate the combustion process or escape as heat and light.

The products of this reaction are primarily carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which are released as gases. This process is similar to the burning of other carbon-based materials such as wood, candle wax, or fossil fuels.

Historical Discovery: Lavoisier’s Diamond Experiment

The flammability of diamonds was first scientifically demonstrated by the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier in 1772. His groundbreaking experiment involved burning a diamond and analyzing the resulting combustion products. Lavoisier found that the sole product was carbon dioxide, conclusively proving that diamonds were composed of carbon.

This discovery was a significant milestone in the field of chemistry, providing crucial insights into the composition of diamonds and paving the way for further research into carbon-based materials.

The Legacy of Lavoisier’s Work

Lavoisier’s experiment not only revealed the true nature of diamonds but also contributed to the broader understanding of chemical reactions and elemental composition. His work laid the foundation for modern chemistry and challenged prevailing notions about the indestructibility of precious gems.

Ignition Temperature: Diamonds vs. Common Materials

While diamonds can burn, they require significantly higher temperatures to ignite compared to many other materials. This is due to the strong atomic bonds present in the diamond’s crystal lattice structure.

• Wood ignition temperature: approximately 300°C (572°F)
• Diamond ignition temperature in air: approximately 900°C (1652°F)

This substantial difference in ignition temperatures explains why diamonds don’t spontaneously combust under normal circumstances. However, it’s important to note that once the required temperature is reached, diamonds will indeed burn via normal carbon combustion.

Factors Affecting Diamond Combustion

Several factors can influence the burning process of a diamond:

1. Temperature: Higher temperatures accelerate the combustion process
2. Oxygen availability: Increased oxygen levels promote faster burning
3. Surface area: Smaller diamonds or diamond powder may ignite more easily due to increased surface area
4. Purity: The presence of impurities in the diamond can affect its burning characteristics

Practical Implications: Jewelers and Diamond Handling

The flammability of diamonds has significant implications for jewelers and others who work with these precious stones. When crafting or repairing diamond jewelry, extreme caution must be exercised to prevent accidental ignition.

Jewelers often use flames to mold the metal settings of diamond rings. During this process, they must carefully control the temperature and protect the diamond from direct exposure to the flame. Failure to do so could result in damage to the diamond or, in extreme cases, its combustion.

Safety Measures in Diamond Processing

To prevent accidental ignition of diamonds during jewelry making or repair, jewelers employ various safety measures:

• Use of heat-resistant coatings or protective gels on diamonds
• Careful temperature control and monitoring
• Specialized tools designed to protect diamonds from direct heat exposure
• Training in proper handling techniques and safety protocols

Debunking the “Diamonds Are Forever” Myth

The popular slogan “Diamonds Are Forever” has long been used to market these precious gems as symbols of eternal love and durability. However, the reality of diamond combustion challenges this notion. In the event of a fire, diamonds can indeed be destroyed, while other materials may survive.

For instance, in a house fire, gold jewelry may melt but can be recovered and recast. Diamonds, on the other hand, will combust and disappear entirely, leaving behind only carbon dioxide gas. This revelation raises questions about the true value and permanence of diamonds as investments or heirlooms.

Alternative Gemstones with Higher Heat Resistance

Interestingly, some less expensive gemstones exhibit greater resistance to heat and fire than diamonds:

• Cubic Zirconia
• Synthetic Ruby
• Synthetic Sapphire

These stones are composed of refractory metal oxides, which can withstand extreme temperatures without burning or significant damage. In a fire, these more affordable alternatives may actually prove more durable than their pricier diamond counterparts.

The Diamond Industry: Marketing vs. Reality

The revelation of diamond flammability brings into question many of the claims made by the diamond industry. For decades, diamonds have been marketed as rare, valuable, and uniquely romantic symbols. However, a closer examination reveals that many of these assertions are more myth than fact.

Debunking Common Diamond Myths

• Rarity: Diamonds are not as rare as the industry suggests. They are relatively common gemstones.
• Intrinsic Value: The high price of diamonds is largely due to controlled supply and marketing, not inherent worth.
• Unique Romanticism: The association of diamonds with romance and love is a relatively recent marketing invention.
• Indestructibility: As we’ve seen, diamonds can indeed be destroyed by fire.

Understanding these realities can help consumers make more informed decisions about diamond purchases and consider alternative gemstones that may offer better value or durability.

Experimental Demonstration: Burning Diamonds

While it’s not recommended to try this at home, controlled experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the combustibility of diamonds. One such experiment involves using a blowtorch to heat a diamond and then immersing it in liquid oxygen.

The Blowtorch and Liquid Oxygen Experiment

1. A diamond is heated with a blowtorch to elevate its temperature.
2. The heated diamond is then dropped into a container of liquid oxygen.
3. The combination of high temperature and oxygen-rich environment causes the diamond to ignite.
4. The diamond burns brightly, converting entirely to carbon dioxide gas.

This dramatic demonstration highlights the reactive nature of carbon in diamonds when exposed to extreme conditions. It serves as a vivid reminder that even the hardest natural substance on Earth is not impervious to chemical reactions.

Diamond Hardness vs. Chemical Stability

While diamonds are renowned for their extreme hardness, it’s crucial to distinguish between hardness and chemical stability. Diamonds may be the hardest known natural substance, but this doesn’t make them immune to chemical reactions like combustion.

Understanding the Difference

• Hardness: Resistance to scratching or abrasion
• Chemical Stability: Resistance to chemical reactions or decomposition

Interestingly, the chemical bonds in diamonds are actually weaker than those in graphite, another form of pure carbon. The difference lies in the arrangement of these bonds. In diamonds, they form a rigid, three-dimensional lattice, while in graphite, they create easily sliding sheets.

This distinction explains why graphite is soft and slippery, while diamond is hard yet still susceptible to combustion. It’s the bond strength, not hardness, that determines a material’s resistance to oxidation and burning.

Implications for Material Science

Understanding these properties has significant implications for material science and engineering. It highlights the importance of considering multiple factors when developing materials for specific applications, rather than focusing solely on one property like hardness.

Environmental and Ethical Considerations

The combustibility of diamonds raises interesting questions about their environmental impact and ethical considerations in the diamond industry.

Carbon Footprint of Diamond Production

The mining and processing of natural diamonds can have significant environmental consequences:

• Habitat destruction from mining operations
• Energy consumption in diamond extraction and processing
• Carbon emissions from mining equipment and transportation

Given that diamonds can ultimately be reduced to carbon dioxide through combustion, questions arise about the long-term sustainability and carbon footprint of the diamond industry.

Ethical Sourcing and Alternatives

The realization that diamonds are not as rare or indestructible as once thought has led to increased interest in ethically sourced and sustainable alternatives:

• Lab-grown diamonds: Chemically identical to natural diamonds but with a lower environmental impact
• Alternative gemstones: More durable options like sapphires or moissanites
• Recycled diamonds: Repurposed stones that reduce the need for new mining

These alternatives offer consumers options that align with environmental and ethical concerns while still providing beautiful and durable gemstones.

Scientific Applications of Diamond Combustion

While the flammability of diamonds might seem like a drawback, this property has found interesting applications in scientific research and industry.

Diamond Burning in Materials Analysis

The controlled combustion of diamonds can be used in various analytical techniques:

• Carbon isotope analysis: Studying the ratio of carbon isotopes in diamonds can provide insights into their formation and origin
• Trace element detection: Burning diamonds can release trace elements, allowing for their identification and quantification
• Quality assessment: The combustion characteristics of a diamond can indicate its purity and composition

Industrial Applications

The high-temperature combustion of diamonds has found niche applications in certain industrial processes:

• High-purity carbon dioxide production
• Specialized high-temperature reactions
• Development of heat-resistant materials

These applications demonstrate how even seemingly negative properties of materials can be harnessed for scientific and industrial purposes.

The Future of Diamond Research and Technology

As our understanding of diamond properties, including their combustibility, continues to grow, new avenues for research and technological applications are emerging.

Advancements in Diamond-Based Technologies

Despite their flammability, diamonds possess unique properties that make them valuable in various technological applications:

• Quantum computing: Diamond defects are being explored for quantum bit (qubit) creation
• High-power electronics: Diamond’s thermal conductivity makes it useful in managing heat in electronic devices
• Biomedical sensors: Diamond-based sensors can detect minute chemical changes in biological systems

Developing Fire-Resistant Diamond Coatings

Research is ongoing to develop methods of enhancing the fire resistance of diamonds, particularly for industrial applications:

• Protective coatings: Development of heat-resistant layers to protect diamond surfaces
• Doping techniques: Introducing other elements into the diamond structure to alter its properties
• Composite materials: Creating diamond-based composites with improved heat resistance

These advancements could lead to new applications for diamonds in extreme environments where their hardness is desirable but their flammability has previously been a limitation.

Conclusion: Redefining Our Understanding of Diamonds

The revelation that diamonds can burn challenges long-held beliefs about these precious gems. It serves as a reminder that even the most seemingly indestructible materials have their limitations. This knowledge not only reshapes our understanding of diamonds but also opens up new avenues for scientific inquiry and technological innovation.

As we continue to explore the properties of diamonds and other materials, we gain valuable insights into the nature of matter and the potential for harnessing these properties in novel ways. The story of diamond combustion is a testament to the ever-evolving nature of scientific understanding and the importance of questioning established beliefs in the pursuit of knowledge.

Ultimately, while diamonds may not be “forever” in the literal sense, their impact on science, technology, and human culture continues to evolve and endure. As we move forward, it’s crucial to approach our understanding of diamonds—and indeed all materials—with an open mind, ready to embrace new discoveries and challenge long-held assumptions.

Can you light diamond on fire?

Category: Chemistry      Published: March 27, 2014

Diamond can indeed be set on fire since it is made of carbon. Public Domain Image, source: Christopher S. Baird.

Yes, diamond can be burned. The most common form of burning in everyday life is carbon combustion. In carbon combustion, carbon atoms break their bonds with each other and with other atoms (which requires energy) to form bonds with oxygen atoms (which releases even more energy than first required). The net extra energy released in this reaction can then go on to rip more carbon atoms free of their non-oxygen neighbors, thus continuing the reaction, or the energy can escape as heat and light. Carbon bonded with oxygen makes carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which are the waste products of combustion. They drift away from the fire as gases. Since biological organisms, and the fuels derived from biological organisms, contain a lot of carbon, much of the burning that goes on around us is carbon combustion. This includes camp fires, candles, car engines, and gas stoves. Pure diamond consists only of carbon atoms bonded into a dense, strong crystal lattice, so diamond can also undergo carbon combustion. In fact, Antoine Lavoisier first determined that diamond is made out of carbon by burning it and showing that the combustion product was carbon dioxide. The book Diamond Films and Coatings by Robert Foster Davis states, “In 1772 the French chemist Antoine L. Lavoisier found that the products of diamond combustion behaved as, and most assuredly were, solely carbon dioxide… He determined that the ignition and burning of each produced equal amounts of ‘bound air’.”

The presence of strong atomic bonds in diamond means that it takes a lot of energy to rip apart the carbon atoms in diamond in order to free them up to burn with oxygen. As a result, it takes a higher temperature to burn diamond than to burn wood. The ignition temperature of wood is about 300 degrees C while the ignition temperature of diamond in air is about 900 degrees C. Although diamond requires a higher temperature to burn, it does indeed burn via normal carbon combustion. You can even burn diamond in a regular flame if you are patient and conditions are right. To accelerate the burning of diamond, you can give it more heat and more oxygen. For instance, holding a blow torch to a diamond and then throwing it in a cup of liquid oxygen leads to an impressive display. Jewelers have to worry about this effect every day because they use flames to mold the metal in a diamond ring but don’t want to burn the diamond.

Topics:
burning, burning diamond, carbon, combustion, diamond, fire

Burning Diamonds With a Torch and Liquid Oxygen

I can’t stand diamonds. No, really, they just tick me off, because nearly everything about them is a lie. Diamonds are neither rare nor intrinsically valuable nor uniquely romantic. Those are ideas invented by the diamond industry. And no, despite what the ads tell you, diamonds are not forever. They are flammable and will burn brightly with a little help from a torch. This makes perfect sense when you consider that they are made of pure carbon, which reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (“reacts with oxygen” just being another way of saying “burns”).

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

A diamond burning in a pool of liquid oxygen on a block of graphite

Diamond has one legitimate claim to fame: It is still, as far as we know, the hardest substance. Despite its hardness, though, the chemical bonds that hold the carbon atoms in diamond together are actually weaker than those that hold together the other common form of pure carbon, graphite. The difference is that in diamond the bonds form an inflexible, three-dimensional lattice, whereas in graphite the atoms are tightly bonded into sheets. But those sheets can slide easily against each other, making graphite soft and slippery.

Cheap Rocks

The bean counters at PopSci let me burn only low-grade “Congo cube” and semitransparent diamonds, available on eBay for $50 to $300.

It is bond strength, not hardness, that determines how easily oxygen can attack and burn a material, allowing me to burn a diamond in a pool of liquid oxygen resting in a block of graphite.

If your house burns down with the family jewels inside, you can collect the pools of melted gold, but the diamonds will be gone in a puff of CO2. Cheaper, more attractive stones, such as cubic zirconia and synthetic ruby and sapphire, are made of refractory metal oxides that easily withstand the same heat. So it’s actually mall trinkets, not diamonds, that are forever.

Lasting Jewels

The gemstones in this incinerated ring survived without damage because they are cubic zirconia.

Achtung!Don’t try this demonstration at home. Diamonds can burst violently when heated. (We ruined an expensive camera lens with diamond bullets that could easily have taken an eye out.)

Diamonds are Flammable! How to Safeguard Your Jewelry – The Diamond Gurus

Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man. Formed millions of years ago, these natural stones have become the symbol of lasting love because of their indestructibility. Once you buy a diamond, you need never worry about breaking it. But, what about fire? Are diamonds flammable?

Burn, Baby, Burn

As it turns out, diamonds are flammable, though burning one is not an easy task. To do so requires extreme heat and plenty of oxygen. You can’t inadvertently set your diamond ring on fire with a cigarette lighter. But, because diamonds are pure carbon, they do react with oxygen by burning. Burning a diamond requires liquid oxygen and a very hot torch. But, the reaction is quite amazing. A diamond will burn very brightly, and then completely disappear.

Here you can watch a diamond burn…

Aside from the fact that most of us don’t want to burn up our diamonds, there are other reasons you should not attempt this experiment. When diamonds get very hot, these can burst, sending diamonds shards flying, which can be extremely dangerous.

If My Diamonds are Flammable, what is the Best Storage Method?

Most people don’t think about protecting their jewelry from fire, but it is very important. Because diamonds are flammable, a house fire can destroy your jewels. Gold and platinum are not flammable, but will melt in a fire.

The best way to store your diamonds and other jewelry is either in a fireproof safety deposit box at the bank or in a fireproof safe in your home.

Are All My Jewels Flammable?

Interestingly enough, some of your less valuable jewelry will withstand fire much better than your diamonds and other natural stones. Cubic zirconia, and synthetic jewels like rubies and sapphires will not burn. So, while you need to keep your diamonds and precious metals in fireproof storage, your less precious jewelry is safe in your jewelry box.

What About Insurance?

If you store your precious jewels and metals at home, it is important to have these insured. Your homeowner’s policy will cover jewelry, but most policies have a fairly low limit of coverage. If you have a significant amount of jewelry, it’s a good idea to add additional coverage to your homeowner’s policy, through a rider, or take out a separate policy.

In general, when you purchase insurance on jewelry, each piece must be appraised for a proper documentation of value.

Insurance on expensive jewelry is a great way to protect your investment. In addition to covering your jewelry in the event of fire, insurance will also replace it if it is lost or stolen.  Be sure to take pictures of all your jewelry and store these, along with the appraisals, and diamond certificates, if you have these, in your safety deposit box, separately from the jewelry.

Your diamonds and other precious jewels and metals are a significant investment. Be sure to take appropriate steps, like proper storage and insurance to protect both the sentimental and the financial value of your pieces.

Let us know if you liked the post. That’s the only way we can improve.

report this ad

NYC man who threatened to burn down Diamond District charged with ‘making terroristic threats,’ police say

A Brooklyn man who delivered a threat to New Yorkers during a live interview with Fox News on Saturday has been charged with multiple offenses, including making terroristic threats, police said.

During the live interview Saturday afternoon, a man who identified himself as “Ace Burns” threatened to burn down the Diamond District if New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio did not meet with protesters and give the youth “some direction.”

“Today, I’m giving a demonstration from Barclay’s Center at 6 p.m. to City Hall, and that’s the first stop — and we’re hoping [Mayor] de Blasio and [Gov.] Cuomo come out and talk to us and give the youth some direction,” Burns told Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich.

“But if they don’t, then [the] next stop is the Diamond District,” he said, referring to a block on Manhattan’s 47th Street known for jewelry shops. “And gasoline, thanks to Trump, is awfully cheap. So, we’re giving them a chance right now to do the right thing.”

PROTESTERS ADD ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ TO ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’ MURAL NEAR WHITE HOUSE

Later Saturday, the NYPD said it “identified the man [and] took him in to be interviewed.”

Burns, 34, whose real name is Israel Burns, has been charged with one count each of making terroristic threats, aggravated harassment and false reporting, NYPD said. He is now at central booking and has not been released.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The protests in New York City come amid others nationwide over the death of George Floyd while in the custody of a white police officer in Minneapolis late last month. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. But the protests have also morphed into violent riots, looting, and clashes with police in New York and around the country.

Fox News’ Sam Dorman contributed to this report.

Wildfires rage and a tool to combat climate change goes up in smoke

Carbon offsets — a system of credits created by planting trees, preserving mangroves, buying renewable energy and other activities — are bought and sold as a tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Landowners pledge to keep their forests healthy enough to store carbon for at least 100 years. The resulting credits are sold to refineries, factories and other big emitters, which use them as a substitute for reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions.

If forest offsets are burning less than 10 years into their projected lifetimes, that’s a problem for landowners, industry and policymakers — not to mention the trees, which are estimated to store about twice as much carbon than they emit and are a crucial component of global plans to address climate change. The increasing severity and frequency of wildfires could reverse their role.

“Right now, the view is this is one of the sectors that’s going to help,” said Danny Cullenward, policy director with the group CarbonPlan, who has called attention to the burning offsets in the Northwest. “We have to ask serious questions about ‘Is that sector going to help or going to hurt?'”

The project on the Colville Indian Reservation, owned by a confederation of 12 tribes, is one of the largest sellers of carbon credits under a California cap-and-trade program. The Summit Trail and Chuweah Creek fires have covered about 3.5 percent of the project’s 453,000 acres, according to an analysis by CarbonPlan.

The Bootleg Fire so far has covered 23.9 percent of Green Diamond’s project area, according to CarbonPlan.

Project owners haven’t begun to evaluate their losses, which will depend not just on the area burned, but the intensity of the fire.

“Once all of this calms down and the fire is essentially out, then we’ll go back in and assess what the actual damage is and start to make those calculations as far as what kind of reversal this is,” Green Diamond spokesperson Patti Case said.

Rules governing offsets anticipate damage from fires. They require landowners to store a certain percent of a project’s credits in a buffer pool that they can tap if offset acreage is lost to wildfires, disease or insect outbreaks.

For now, the buffer pool, with about 28.5 million credits, is large enough to absorb the recent fires, said Dan McGraw, head of Americas at Carbon Pulse, a market analysis firm. But if acreage keeps burning at greater rates, the carbon accounting system could find itself in the red.

“We’ve had two projects be affected by fires, and it’s July, and it’s only going to get worse,” McGraw said.

If fires multiply and more projects are affected, the buffer pool is strained and “it becomes a little more of an issue down the road,” he said.

A 3.2-million credit project managed by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is thought to be one of the first to have suffered significant wildfire damage. In 2020, the Lionshead Fire in Oregon burned through some of the tribe’s land, and it is still evaluating how much carbon it lost. The process can take up to two years under California Air Resources Board rules.

Environmental justice advocates have long opposed the use of offsets, in part because the practice doesn’t prioritize disadvantaged communities that tend to be close to industrial greenhouse gas emitters.

The carbon credits burning in the Northwest have bolstered the argument that emissions should be reduced at the source, said Roger Lin, climate and air counsel for the California Environmental Justice Alliance.

“We have the evidence right in front of us in these fires in Oregon and Washington that there really has to be a fundamental course correction,” Lin said. “To solve the global, you have to solve the local first.”

California has reduced the proportion of offsets businesses can use, due to pressure from environmental justice activists. But the global supply is growing. Nearly 200 million offset credits were issued worldwide in 2020, according to a University of California Berkeley database.

Cullenward says California should consider growing the buffer pool, which would reduce the number of offsets that can be sold.

“Even if you don’t exhaust the entire buffer pool from fires, you draw it down against all the other risks over the next 100 years and it doesn’t look very good,” he said.

The developer of the Colville reservation project said more research into forest emissions is needed, and that companies pledging to get to net-zero emissions should be the ones funding it. He pointed to Microsoft and Amazon’s funding of a working group at the University of Idaho to review projects’ accounting methods.

“If the contribution is too high, it means less money will be available to fund improved forest management that, by extension, can reduce fire risk,” Sean Carney, president of Finite Carbon, which BP acquired a majority stake in last year, said in an email. “If the contribution is too low, the program may eventually have a carbon deficit. We’re in a situation where the policy needs to be just right.”

The California Air Resources Board has no immediate plans to update its rules, but agency spokesperson Stanley Young said it would take any new findings into account.

“We developed the risk metrics that determine the buffer account contribution based on the best information available to us at the time we adopted the protocol,” he said in an email. “We will of course assess all relevant science and new information when we conduct our next protocol update.”

Burn Care & Treatment – Plastic Surgery in Grand Rapids, MI

Burns can be minor inconveniences, say a burn on your finger from touching a hot grill, or they can be life-threatening emergencies. Once the initial damage has been addressed, more severe burns will likely need plastic surgery to repair damaged areas of the skin.

Our highly skilled plastic surgeons at Elite Plastic Surgery can provide you with burn care and treatment!

What Are the Signs that a Burn is a Medical Emergency?

There are times when a person has suffered a burn that is a medical emergency:

• Burns that cover the hands, feet, face, groin, buttocks, a major joint or a large area of the body
• Deep burns, meaning a burn that affects all three layers of the skin
• Burns that cause the skin to look leathery
• Burns that appear charred or have patches of black, brown, or white
• Burns caused by chemicals or electricity
• Burns to the airway that is causing difficulty breathing

What If I Have Been Treating My Burn at Home, When Should I See a Doctor for Burn Treatment?

If you’ve had a burn but have been treating it at home, these are instances when you would now need to see a doctor:

• Signs of infection, such as oozing from the wound, increased pain, redness, and swelling
• A burn or blister that’s large or that doesn’t heal in two weeks
• Significant scarring
• New, unexplained symptoms

What are the Different Types of Burns?

Burns are categorized by type: first-degree, second-degree, and third-degree. These are classified in ascending order, with first-degree burns being the least severe and third-degree burns being the most severe.

First-degree burns

These are the least severe, only damaging the outer layer of the skin, the epidermis. As with a sunburn, the skin turns red and may feel warm and painful. There are no blisters or open wounds. First-degree burns can heal on their own without medical treatment.

Second-degree burns

This type of burn affects both the epidermis and the dermis, the skin’s second layer. The burned area turns pink or red, is very moist, and develops blisters. These may heal on their own if the burn is not too deep. However, if they are deeper, the skin is likely to reopen. Skin grafting may be necessary.

Third-degree burns

This burn reaches down to the fat layer, beneath the dermis. Burned areas may be black, brown, or white. The skin may look leathery. These burns may not be painful, as they can destroy the nerves in the skin. While very small third-degree burns may heal on their own, the process will take a very long time. Any third-degree burn larger than a fifty-cent piece must be grafted or it will not heal.

What are the Treatment Options for Severe Burns?

For severe burns, the patient may require breathing assistance and feeding assistance. If the burn completely encircles a limb, the scab may cut off blood circulation, requiring the scar, called an eschar, to be cut.

To repair the severe burn after the patient has stabilized, plastic surgery will likely be necessary. This will employ skin grafts and other methods. After skin grafts have been successful, other plastic surgery may be necessary to improve the appearance of the burn scars and to increase the flexibility of joints affected by scarring.

Skin grafts

A skin graft is a thin layer of skin taken from one area of a person’s body to cover another burned area of their skin. There are three kinds of skin grafts: sheet grafts, mesh grafts, and full-thickness grafts.

Sheet grafts

These are solid pieces of skin that are attached over the burn with staples or stitches. They are used to cover smaller burned areas, such as on the face and hands. Once the graft is attached, it will turn from white to bright pink in about five days. This pink color is a sign that blood supply is forming in the grafted skin.

Mesh grafts

Mesh Grafts are used to cover larger areas of the body. The donor skin has been cut with a special tool to allow it to be spread over a larger area. The mesh graft has a diamond pattern and is attached over the burn with staples.

Full-thickness grafts

Full-Thickness Grafts are used for reconstruction of small areas that are prone to contractures, such as the hands or chin. These grafts consist of the full thickness of the skin and they shrink the least compared to other grafts.

How Long Will it Take My Grafts to Heal After a Severe Burn?

When you have a skin graft, you’ll actually have two sites that need to heal: the burn site and the donor site. Skin grafts typically heal in about two weeks, as do donor sites. 

How Do I Prepare for Reconstructive Surgery After a Burn?

Preparations for these surgeries are the same as with any surgery: stop taking blood-thinning medications, anti-inflammatory medications, and most supplements. Stop smoking for a month before, if possible, and after your surgery.

What is Involved with Post-Treatment Burn Care?

Caring for your treated burn will be important to avoid infection and maintain the repair.

• Moisturizing — This is important to decrease the chances of developing blisters or skin tears. It also decreases itching and makes movement easier. We’ll talk about the right lotions for your situation.

• Blisters — Your newly healed skin is fragile. Blisters can form on the scar quite easily. They should be pierced and drained as soon as you notice them. Use a sterile needle to make a small hole and drain the blister onto a piece of gauze. Apply antibiotic ointment.

• Skin tears — These occur when you bump into something, such as a countertop. Apply pressure for about 5 minutes until the bleeding stops. Wash the area and apply antibiotic ointment and a nonstick dressing.

• Ulcerations — These are breakdowns in the skin that occur across the bands of scar tissue around the shoulder, the front of the elbow, and the back of the knee. Movement can cause them. Try and keep the wound covered with a thin film of antibiotic ointment, especially when exercising.

Will my Burn Treatment Leave a Scar?

That depends on the severity and size of your scar. First- and second-degree burns rarely scar. They can result in a change of pigment on the skin that was burned. Third-degree burns will involve some scarring, but that’s where post-treatment plastic surgery with the expert team at Elite Plastic Surgery can make all the difference.

What Happens if a Burn is Left Untreated?

Minor burns can be treated at home and will usually heal within a couple of weeks. While they will likely heal if left untreated, they will probably heal quicker if treated. Treatments for first-degree burns would include soaking the burn in cool water, taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen, applying aloe vera gel, and using the antibiotic ointment.

Second- and third-degree burns carry risks of infection if not appropriately treated. Second-degree burns need to be managed to speed healing, deal with blisters, and avoid scarring. Third-degree burns always need treatment. This will involve skin grafts and possible additional plastic surgery. Without it, beyond the intense risk of infection, these burns will heal with severe scarring and contracture.

Tetanus is a possible complication with untreated burns of all levels. This is a bacterial infection that affects the nervous system.

What Our Patients Have to Say 

“Very friendly and empathetic staff, professional and courteous, prompt & efficient yet not rushed. Various treatment options presented, not pushy to treat issue as to what doctor wants, more interested in treatment that patient feels best for the patient needs & wishes!” -D. J.

Schedule a Consultation

To schedule a consultation or to learn more about our Burn Care and Treatment options, contact us today at (616) 459-1907  or our toll-free number: (866) 331-0612. Our practice serves Grand Rapids and Byron Center, MI and the surrounding areas.

90,000 Is it possible to burn a diamond, since it consists of the same as coal? | Science from Fansaens

They say “diamonds are forever”.

But any chemist will tell you that even a diamond can be burned with sufficient temperature and sufficient oxygen.

Diamonds are composed of carbon. Coal is also made of carbon. And coal, as you know, burns very well. In order to set fire to a diamond, you need to make a little more effort – to create suitable conditions. And then the diamond will ignite.

“All you have to do is turn this solid [carbon] into a gaseous form to react with the surrounding air and create a flame,” explains Rick Sachleben, chemist and member of the American Chemical Society.

Ingredients. You will need a tremendous amount of heat. In air at room temperature, diamonds ignite at temperatures of 900 degrees Celsius.

In comparison, high-volatile coal ignites at 667 degrees Celsius and wood at about 300 degrees or less, depending on the type.

When heated, the diamond first turns red and then white. The heat provokes a reaction between the surface of the diamond and the surrounding air.

Carbon goes into a gaseous state and, combining with oxygen from the air, becomes a colorless carbon monoxide gas. One carbon atom plus one oxygen atom.

“The process of forming carbon monoxide from carbon and oxygen produces heat; carbon monoxide interacts with oxygen and gives even more heat; the rising temperature forces carbon monoxide to escape, and more oxygen takes its place, ”says physicist Christopher Baird.

However, you will not see the fire – only the glow.

To provoke the appearance of the flame , the diamond must be in 100% oxygen, and not in ordinary room air, in which oxygen is about 22%.

However, even without pure oxygen, diamond can get damaged in the fire . As you know, diamonds caught in a fire or falling into the hands of an inept jeweler with a burner can fog up and turn white from the outside. Damage can be trimmed to create a clean diamond, albeit a smaller one.

Diamond can burn to the end, but usually they still contain impurities that make it difficult to predict the reaction.

Source: Live Science.

Interesting – BNT Diamonds

To what time does the first mention of the offering of a diamond as a sign of a marriage proposal date?
In 1477 the Archduke of Austria presented the diamond to Mary of Burgundy. And today, five centuries later, the diamond is most often used for wedding rings.

What is the average age of a diamond?
Diamonds were formed a billion or more years ago at a depth of one and a half hundred meters, and over time have been raised to the surface by volcanic eruptions. Most diamonds are mined from volcanic rock – kimberlite – or from sea deposits, where they were carried by rivers from the places where they were raised to the surface.

Diamond is 58 times harder than corundum – the second hardest mineral on Earth, the varieties of which include rubies and sapphires.Only in the XV century. found out that a diamond can only be cut with another diamond.

Which diamond is the largest in the world?
The largest known to date, is the Cullinan diamond, found in South Africa in 1905. In its rough form, it weighed 3106.75 carats. In the process of cutting, the Big Star of Africa (530.2 ct.), The Second Star of Africa (317.40 ct.) And 104 other diamonds, almost colorless and almost pure water, were obtained from it. These diamonds are now part of the British Crown jewelry.

The next largest diamond, the Excelsior, which also originates from South Africa, is three times smaller than the Cullinan. The world’s largest cut diamond, mined in 1986 in South Africa, was named Nameless Brown. In its raw form, it weighed 700 carats, and its weight after cutting was 545 carats. The work on cutting this stone lasted three years, like the Diamond of the Century, which is also part of the jewelry of the British Crown. The last stone weighs 273.85 carats and is considered the world’s largest pure water diamond….

The largest diamond in the known part of the Universe is believed to be Lucy, a crystalline white dwarf, most of which is a huge diamond. Lucy is located 50 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. Its mass is 10 billion trillion carats. This star received its name in honor of The Beatles’ composition “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, known in astronomical catalogs as BPM 37093.

What qualities did diamonds give to a person, according to the beliefs of the ancients?
In ancient times, it was believed that a diamond gives its owner strength, invincibility and courage.

Additional information on diamonds

• To mine a 1 carat diamond, you need to extract 250 tons of waste rock.

• In the total volume of world production, gem-quality diamonds make up less than 20%.

• The first written mention of diamonds as gemstones dates back to around 500 BC. NS.

• Diamonds of the purest water shine brightly and are completely colorless.

• Diamonds come in a variety of colors. The rarest are blue and pink, but yellow and brown are quite widespread.

• Diamond is extremely hard and practically non-combustible. To burn a diamond, it must be heated to 690 ^o C.

• For one thousand cut diamonds there is only one with a mass of more than 1 carat.

• The United States of America, producing less than 1% of all gemstones in the world, buys more than half of all gem-quality diamonds, forming the largest diamond market on the planet.

• Australia is the largest diamond producer by volume.

• Diamond Crater National Park in Arkansas is the only diamond mine in the world open to the public. More than 70,000 diamonds have been found here since 1906, including the 40.23 carat Uncle Sam Diamond, the largest of its kind ever found in the United States.

Diamonds Glossary & Terminology | Shimansky

Diamond | Geography Grade 6

The Arabs called him “almas” – the hardest. The Greeks gave him the name “Adamas”, which in translation means – “irresistible, invincible.”

The value of a diamond lies in the remarkable combination of several properties. It is the hardest mineral in nature, its hardness is about 140 times that of the next corundum. It can be burned only at temperatures above 800 ° C. Finally, diamond has a special property – it scatters the light of the sun, that is, it creates the same effect as rain drops that form a bright rainbow.

It is very interesting that by its composition diamond is simple carbon. It differs from ordinary soot in a pipe and from black graphite in a pencil only in that the smallest particles of the same element, carbon, are differently located in it.

For the first time, diamonds were discovered in India before BC. NS. In 1725, deposits of this stone were discovered in Brazil, and for more than a century, the center of world diamond mining moved to South America. Brazil’s leadership in diamond mining did not last long. In 1867, in South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River, the first diamond was found, which was cut into a diamond weighing 10.75 carats (1 carat = 200 mg), it received its own name “Eureka” and went down in history as the firstborn of South African diamond mining.The largest of the found diamonds was named “Cullinan”. It was discovered in 1905 near Pretoria in South Africa. The Cullinan weighed 621 g (3106 carats) and cost £ 9 million. The diamond was presented to the English king Edward VI. During processing, the Cullinan was split into 105 pieces; the largest of them, weighing 103.3 g (516.5 carats), was named “Star of Africa”.
The extraordinary properties of the diamond have given rise to many legends. The ability to bring good luck is just one of the countless properties attributed to a diamond.The diamond has always been considered the stone of the winners; it was the talisman of Julius Caesar, Louis IV and Napoleon. Today, the classic brilliant cut has 57 facets and provides the famous “play” of the diamond. Many diamonds glow in the dark after exposure to sunlight, and some even emit light when rubbed.

90,000 The diamond burns out. Temperature and characteristics of the diamond melting process

The fact that diamonds burn was proven back in the 17th century.But, today this topic flashed with renewed vigor, attracting the attention of not only scientists, but also ordinary people. The “irresistible” stone became the main object of research. This is because with the development of technology, the need for diamonds has increased. Read the article and you will find out how humanity learned about the flammability of the mineral, what role Lavoisier played in its history, and what these experiments gave us.

Along the waves of history …

Inquiring minds at all times put forward the most insane theories.Unsurprisingly, they were interested in the diamond and its properties. The stone is not only one of the most durable in the world, but also the most expensive. It was only possible to determine that the diamond was burning in the 17th century.

The merit belongs to the English physicist Boyle. He managed to burn a diamond through a lens by directing a sunbeam at it. But, attempts to repeat the experiment by French scientists have failed. They placed the stone in a melting vessel, and all they achieved was a dark coating on the crystals.

Contribution of Antoine Lavoisier to the study of the crystal

The French physicist Antoine Lavoisier made a great contribution to the study of the mineral.He proved that diamonds burn in the presence of air. For his experiment, he:

• placed a stone in a glass vessel;
• filled it with oxygen;
• clogged.

Using a lens, he heated the diamonds, after which they burned completely with a faint blue flame. But no ash was found in the flask. Having examined the air in the flask, he found out that carbon dioxide had appeared in it.

It is interesting that Lavoisier, with his experiments, did not try to prove that a diamond can be burned – it happened by accident.The essence of his experiments was to refute the phlogiston theory.

Carrying out experiments on the combustion of substances in sealed capsules, Lavoisier could not attract the attention of the “scientific community” to them. To remedy this, he announced that he would burn a piece of diamond. Such a move proved the effectiveness of his work and revealed to the world one of the mysteries of the diamond.

The discovery that turned the world upside down

Whether the diamond caught fire or not, everything that we now consider habitual depended on. First, thanks to Lavoisier’s experiment, the phlogiston theory was rejected.According to her, a reaction always requires two substances. One is capable of giving, the other is capable of receiving. It was replaced by the law of conservation of energy: nothing comes out of nowhere, and does not disappear into nowhere.

Thanks to this law, it was possible to find out that, when burned, a diamond turns into carbon. And this gave us, secondly: if carbon can be obtained from diamond, then there must be a reverse reaction.

Developing this theory, scientists have found that diamond can be synthesized.The discovery had a wide resonance, because the mineral is used in many spheres of life. The ability to obtain it artificially is an unlimited supply of an invaluable resource.

A joke of nature: chameleons among precious stones

As we said, diamonds begin to burn at temperatures above 720 degrees. While experimenting with some stones, scientists noticed that reaching the 120-150 g mark, the mineral changes color. This led them to an interesting discovery.

There are chameleon diamonds in nature.Usually, they have an olive tint. But if they are heated, the color changes to a deep brown or orange-yellow. The effect is short-lived. If you continue to act on the stones, they burn out.

The chameleon diamond can change its color in the dark, if it stays there for a long time. Scientists still cannot solve this riddle. Having carried out 39 tests at the same time, they could not agree on the opinion. Some believe that the reason is in the impurity of hydrogen, others – that the stone acquires luminescent properties.

Tell your friends about it by reposting.

Diamond is a rather rare and expensive stone. It is born in the depths of the earth and comes to the surface in the form of a kimberlite pipe. This mineral was discovered a long time ago, but only in the sixteenth century, scientists began to study the properties of this precious stone. After numerous experiments, physicists gave an answer about the structure and properties of diamond.

But the study of this mineral continues to this day. Currently, there is no exact answer to the question – what will happen if the diamond is melted? The discovery of the structure of the structure and properties of the mineral made it possible to use it not only as jewelry, but also in various industries.

Structure and properties of diamond

By its structure, diamond is a crystal lattice of carbon atoms with a very strong bond, which determines its properties.

• Diamond hardness. It is the hardest mineral currently known. Due to its structure, it is impossible to destroy or damage its surface with other minerals or objects.
• Absence of diamond reaction to aggressive chemical environment in the form of alkalis and acids.
• The fragility of the mineral.

The peculiarity of the structure of the crystal lattice of the mineral makes it brittle. When the stone is hit hard, it breaks into small pieces. This property is used by jewelers when cutting diamonds.

If the basic properties of diamond have been studied to a greater extent, then what properties will the mineral have if you try to melt it? Experimental experiments on the topic: “how to melt a diamond” have been carried out by physicists and are being carried out at the present time.

How to melt a diamond

Physicists succeeded, as a result of the experiment, to obtain liquid drops of diamond, but they failed to measure the melting point and fix the new properties of the mineral in this state. When a diamond is heated in the usual way in air to a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius, it burns, and in a vacuum, at a temperature of 2000 degrees, it turns into graphite.

Scientists, in the course of the experiment, decided to influence a natural diamond of one tenth of a carat with a high temperature, 3500 degrees Celsius and a high pressure shock wave (pressure reached 11 million atmospheres) using laser pulses.

With a gradual decrease in temperature and pressure, formations appeared in the form of pieces of ice that did not sink on the surface of the resulting liquid. The number of these solid formations at a constant temperature and reduced pressure increased more and more.

Due to the complexity of the experimental conditions, it was not possible to study the properties of the molten form of diamond. However, similar manifestations are recorded on Neptune and Uranus. There is a possibility that in the bowels of these planets there are seas of molten diamonds.

Will lava melt a diamond?

Lava temperature ranges from 500 to 1200 degrees. The melting temperature of a diamond starts from 3500 degrees (in this case, a pressure of more than 11 GPa is required). So no, lava cannot melt a diamond. However, she is able to burn it, tk. at atmospheric pressure, the diamond burns at a temperature of 1000 degrees.

Interesting fact
. In 2013, diamond placers were discovered in the lava of active volcanoes in Kamchatka. How is this possible if they have to burn.After a series of studies, scientists have concluded that these are newly formed diamonds with new properties. They were even given a separate name – Tolbachinsky. As the message says: “diamonds were formed in volcanic gases as a result of shock crystallization under the influence of lightning electric discharges.”

Data-lazy-type = “image” data-src = “https://karatto.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/almaz-1.jpg” alt = “stone diamond”> Diamond is a stone , which can be safely called the most famous on the whole Earth.It possesses extraordinary physical characteristics and impresses with its beauty. Since ancient times, it has been used for jewelry, and sometimes even acted as the hardest currency. Many legends are associated with the history of its origin, and its medicinal and magical properties are amazing to this day.

Stone with ancient history

The history of diamonds goes back many millions of years even according to the most conservative estimates. Many scientists are inclined to believe that the age of these precious minerals may well be equal to the age of our planet.This explains the number of myths that enveloped his appearance. The origin of diamonds is associated with India, where seekers of gems of extraordinary beauty have been sent for thousands of years. It was there, about three thousand years BC, that these stones became widespread. They were not subjected to any processing, leaving them in their natural state in the treasuries.

The mineral diamond reached the European continent much later, when Alexander the Great found out about it. He organized a trip to India to take possession of hitherto unseen jewels.Legend has it that the brave warrior had to fight the snakes that stood guard over these riches.

And only by the end of the Middle Ages in the Belgian city of Bruges, where there was a real Mecca for people who traded in gemstones, they figured out how to give a diamond the shine and sparkle that is already familiar to us. They began to cut it, and a diamond stone appeared, which meant “brilliant”. Thanks to its sparkling facets, it gained incredible popularity and became even more appreciated.The stone began to be mined in very large volumes, and Indian deposits were depleted. But this only spurred an active search for new ones, and such were soon found in Brazil.

Png “alt =” “> Now mining is carried out in Australia, on the African continent, in Russia.

The old name of the diamond among the inhabitants of India sounded like “fariy”, the Romans gave him the name “diamond”. The Greeks appreciated its qualities and began to call it “adamas”, which meant “indestructible”, “unsurpassed”, while the Arabs called it “almas”, which means “the hardest” in Russian.

Properties and basic characteristics

Today there are several theories about how diamonds are formed. For example, according to one of them, diamond appears in nature when the temperature of silicates (silicon-oxygen compounds) in the mantle of the Earth’s crust decreases. On the surface, they find themselves after strong deep explosions. In addition, it is believed that these crystals were formed during the fall of meteorites as a result of the simultaneous exposure to high pressure and temperature.

Png “alt =” “> Diamond, the formula of which is denoted by one letter C, was previously mined by careful washing of sea or river sand deposits. Then there was a small chance of finding such a coveted crystal, which could be included in other rocks.

But when kimberlite pipes were discovered at the end of the nineteenth century, mining began in a different way. This name was given to areas of rock containing valuable minerals that have a vertical conical shape..jpg “alt =” stone diamond “>
It is interesting how a rough diamond looks like – these are small (up to 5 mm) particles, matte and rough. Small crystals can grow together.

The physical properties of a diamond distinguish it from other minerals, and in fact it consists only of carbon atoms. Its most amazing qualities are the following:

1. The density of a diamond on the Mohs scale is 10. This is the highest indicator that confirms the exceptional hardness of a diamond.It is extremely difficult to process it, because it damages any material, and itself remains without any traces.
2. The ability of a stone to generate electrical impulses if charged particles interact with it is also surprising.
3. The properties of diamond to resist the action of strong acids are also interesting. They cannot have any effect, but when reacting with melts of alkali, saltpeter and soda, an oxidation process occurs that can “burn” the sample.
4. The melting point of diamond is 3700-4000C °.If a stream of oxygen is directed at the sample, then at a temperature of about 800C ° it will light up with a blue flame. At 1000C ° it will burn out, and heated up to 2000C ° in a vacuum it will turn into graphite.

The structure of the diamond is also interesting, which explains its incredible strength. The crystal lattice of a diamond has the shape of a cube, at the tops of which and inside are carbon atoms, a strong bond between which gives the mineral its hardness.

Applications

Data-lazy-type = “image” data-src = “https: // karatto.ru / wp-content / uploads / 2017/08 / almaz-3.jpg “alt =” diamond stone “>
The use of diamonds is not limited to the use in the jewelry industry, where only the highest quality items are preferred.

The use of diamonds is widespread in a wide variety of areas, including:

• Medical devices and instruments In the medical field, the use of transparent crystals is very widespread.Thanks to such devices, which allow making fine incisions, the healing time in the postoperative period is accelerated.Scalpels made from this material remain sharp for a long time. The structure of the diamond makes it possible to use it in the production of implants.
• The high thermal conductivity of diamond makes it indispensable for use in electronics to prevent overheating of devices.
• The properties and composition of the diamond explain its use in telecommunications. It is appreciated for its ability to withstand surges in voltage and temperature.
• It is also used in the mining industry to add efficiency to the drill bit.

Interestingly, only 15% of the crystals that are mined in the world can be used to cut them and get diamonds. About 44-46% are “conditionally fit” to be cut. The remaining percentage of the extracted raw materials goes just for industrial and production needs.

How is a diamond made from a diamond?

Many people wonder what a diamond is. In fact, this is still the same diamond, only cut.Processing takes place in several stages, during which various flaws are removed on the crystal. The stones are ground and polished.

Jpg “alt =” 57 facets round diamond “> The cutting process is very long and laborious. To give the crystal the desired shape and create even facets on the surface of the hardest mineral, cast iron discs are used on which diamond sputtering is applied. facets, considering how the light will fall on them.The skill of cutting is to make the stone shine with all the colors of the rainbow.The properties of a diamond allow it to refract light rays in different ways, which is what causes such a bright sparkle. These properties are most strongly revealed when a round cut with 57 facets.

As a result of cutting, the size of diamonds is significantly reduced, but this does not affect the cost. A large sample can take months to complete. For this type of stones, three main types of crystal cutting are used:

• For processing round pebbles, a brilliant look is used. In this case, it is important that a checkerboard pattern is maintained for the triangular or diamond-shaped faces on each tier.
• Rectangular samples are stepped cut, in which triangular or trapezoidal edges run one above the other.
• For cutting small samples, the “rose” or “rosette” method is used.

The characteristics of diamonds also differ in the degree of transparency. Natural minerals cannot boast of absolute purity and have various inclusions. The fewer such defects are, the higher the cost.

Variety of colors

Most people mistakenly think that the variety of diamond is limited to transparent colorless crystals.In fact, there are quite a few different color variations, which are sometimes priced much more expensive than the classic ones.

Jpg “alt =” “> A yellow diamond is quite common. The mineral got this color thanks to nitrogen atoms that have penetrated into its crystal lattice. The richer this color, the more expensive the sample will cost. There are also darker variations that are found in In Australia, you can find both a cognac diamond and a red diamond

Jpg “alt =” “> A blue diamond is a real rarity.It may be a naturally occurring variety, given its hue from the presence of atoms of a chemical such as boron. A blue diamond can also be obtained by refining a mineral.

Jpg “alt =” “> But the blue diamond (its large specimens) is so rare that only the holders of luxury collections can afford it. The more common is the diamond, the color of which has become blue as a result of heating and increasing pressure.

Each the jeweler is not averse to getting a green diamond in his collection, which received its color due to natural radiation.Red diamonds are even less common. They, like a pink diamond, are mined in the deposits of Australia.

This is not the end of the types of diamonds. There are even black and white diamonds.

Extraordinary properties

Data-lazy-type = “image” data-src = “https://karatto.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/almaz-5.jpg” alt = “gold ring with diamond”>
In the old days, diamonds were attributed to a variety of amazing properties. Even modern experts note the incredible energy of this mineral.Its effect on the human body has often been used to get rid of various ailments, both physical and mental. They are still used in the following fields of medicine:

1. With the help of these gems, you can solve heart problems. The stone will help to normalize the work of blood vessels and heart muscle, lower blood pressure.
2. The iridescent crystals have a positive effect on those people who have mental problems. The impact of the stone will relieve stress, calm the nerves, and help normalize sleep.
3. The energy of the stones has a good effect on women’s health, helping to heal a number of gynecological problems.
4. The mineral is also famous for its anti-inflammatory properties. With its help, you can cope with dermatological problems. Provide a general strengthening effect on all internal organs.

To feel the healing power of the stone, you can put the crystal in water for 24 hours, and then drink this diamond infusion, which can strengthen the immune system and give tone.

Jpg “alt =” diamond ring “> The diamond also actively exhibits its magical properties. It becomes a powerful protector of its owner, protecting him from any negative external influences. In ancient times, rulers always took a diamond with them to feasts, knowing that he could to prevent poisoning. A person with pure thoughts, he will be able to give self-confidence, prosperity in his personal life, success in his career. It has been used since ancient times to perform magical rituals. Especially effective in this case is a yellow stone.The red crystal is so powerful that not everyone will be able to curb it. But the white one can become a talisman for any person.

He will reveal his qualities if you combine it with gold and wear it on your left hand. The ring grants men good luck in the game and success with women. Beautiful earrings or necklaces will add charm to ladies and help them find love. The stone will most actively reveal its power to Aries, but it is better for Pisces to choose another talisman.

The mystery of the diamond excites many even now.This extraordinary stone is fraught with many still unexplored qualities. Some of them are associated with mystical stories. For example, the “Hope” crystal brought only misfortune to its owners.

Amazing are the sizes of the found gems. When the Cullinan diamond was found at one of the mines, it weighed more than three thousand carats. The great popularity, which is not surprising, led to the fact that scientists wanted to make an artificial variation of it. So in the twentieth century, acting on graphite by pressure and temperature, synthetic analogs were obtained.It is very difficult to distinguish them from real ones. Often only professionals can cope with such a task.

Png “alt =” “> To distinguish an original from a fake, you need to pay attention to the number of facets (classic cut assumes 57) and their clear outline without ghosting when viewed through a magnifying glass that magnifies 12 times.

• This sample is impossible scratch, even rubbing it with sandpaper
• If you hold it in your hand, it will remain cool, while the fake will quickly heat up to body temperature.
• And if you drop a drop of fat on the surface, it will remain unchanged, while on a fake it first breaks down into smaller droplets.

Despite their amazing hardness, diamond jewelry must be stored with extreme care. If dirty, wash them with soapy water and keep them separate from other jewelry. Do not neglect the help of jewelers. They will be able to check the attachments and clean the stone with ultrasound.

Everything in this world is not eternal.Almost everything turns to dust over time. And unfortunately no one can change this. Yet there are things in our world that, according to many, are immutable. Today I want to talk about one such object – a diamond. Diamond is considered to be one of the hardest minerals in the world. But still…

Did you know that diamonds can burn? This fascinating phenomenon was discovered as a result of experiments that were carried out with this mineral. As a result of experiments, it turned out that at high temperatures (850-1000 degrees C), a very hard mineral changes its structure and turns into the purest carbon dioxide, leaving no other substances.This was proved for the first time in 1694, when scientists from Italy K.A. Targioni and J. Averani tried to combine several small diamonds into one large diamond. Burning temperature at which diamond burns
V in a stream of pure oxygen is slightly less: 720-800 degrees C. Moreover, the mineral burns with a beautiful and blue flame.

Again, interesting, in my opinion, is the fact that it is possible to produce ordinary graphite from diamond. To do this, you only need to heat the stone, in the absence of oxygen, to a temperature of 2000 degrees C.

All of these facts have been proven many times by scientists in practice, and subsequently scientifically substantiated.

So that women remember that diamond burns
, the diamond on your finger from the high temperature can turn into ordinary graphite. Remember this and be careful, do not get excited.

Burning diamonds. Video.

Interesting pages of our site:

Bad weather. Interesting facts about rain

Underground boat.Secret developments

Bogomolov’s accelerator. Is it possible to completely destroy a single country?

Physical and mechanical properties

The main distinctive features of diamond are the highest hardness among minerals (but at the same time brittleness), the highest thermal conductivity among all solids 900-2300 W / (m · K), high refractive index and dispersion. Diamond is a dielectric. Diamond has a very low coefficient of friction against metal in air – only 0.1, which is associated with the formation of thin films of adsorbed gas on the crystal surface, which play the role of a kind of lubricant.When such films are not formed, the coefficient of friction increases and reaches 0.5-0.55. The high hardness gives the diamond exceptional abrasion resistance. Diamond is also characterized by the highest (in comparison with other known materials) modulus of elasticity and the lowest compression ratio. The energy of the crystal is 10 5 J / g-at, the binding energy of 700 J / g-at is less than 1% of the energy of the crystal.

The melting point of diamond is 3700-4000 ° C at a pressure of 11 GPa.In air, diamond burns at 850-1000 ° C, and in a stream of pure oxygen it burns with a faint blue flame at 720-800 ° C, ultimately converting completely into carbon dioxide. When heated to 2000 ° C without air access, the diamond transforms into graphite in 15-30 minutes. The average refractive index of colorless diamond crystals in yellow is about 2.417, and for different colors of the spectrum it varies from 2.402 (for red) to 2.465 (for violet). The ability of crystals to break down white light into its individual constituents is called dispersion.For diamond, the variance is 0.063.

One of the important properties of diamonds is luminescence. Under the influence of sunlight and especially cathode, ultraviolet and X-rays, diamonds begin to luminesce – they glow in different colors. All types of diamonds glow under the action of cathode and X-ray radiation, and only a few under the action of ultraviolet radiation. X-ray luminescence is widely used in practice to extract diamonds from rocks.

Structure

Each colored diamond is a completely unique piece of nature.There are rare colors of diamonds: pink, blue, green and even red.

Examples of some colored diamonds:

• Porter Rhodes (blue).

Diamond Diagnostics

In order to distinguish a real diamond from its imitation, a special “diamond probe” is used to measure the thermal conductivity of the stone under study. Diamond has a much higher thermal conductivity value than diamond substitutes. In addition, the good wettability of the diamond with fat is used: a felt-tip pen filled with special ink leaves a solid line on the surface of the diamond, while on the imitation surface it crumbles into separate droplets.

Finding diamonds in nature

Cut diamond

Diamond is a rare, but at the same time quite widespread mineral. Commercial diamond deposits are known on all continents except Antarctica. Several types of diamond deposits are known. Already several thousand years ago, diamonds were mined on an industrial scale from alluvial deposits. Only by the end of the 19th century, when diamondiferous kimberlite pipes were first discovered, did it become clear that diamonds did not form in river sediments.

There is still no exact scientific data on the origin and age of diamonds. Scientists adhere to different hypotheses – magmatic, mantle, meteorite, fluid, there are even several exotic theories. Most are inclined to magmatic and mantle theories, to the fact that carbon atoms under high pressure (usually 50,000 atmospheres) and at a great depth (about 200 km) form a cubic crystal lattice – the diamond itself. Stones are carried to the surface by volcanic magma during the formation of the so-called “explosion tubes”.

The age of diamonds, according to some studies, can be from 100 million to 2.5 billion years.

Meteorite diamonds are known of extraterrestrial, possibly pre-solar origin. Diamonds are also formed during impact metamorphism during the fall of large meteorites, for example, in the Popigai astroblem in northern Siberia.

In addition, diamonds were found in the top rocks in the associations of ultrahigh pressure metamorphism, for example, in the Kumdykul diamond deposit in the Kokchetav massif in Kazakhstan.

Both impact and metamorphic diamonds sometimes form very large-scale deposits, with large reserves and high concentrations. But in these types of deposits, diamonds are so small that they have no industrial value.

Mining & Fields

Industrial diamond deposits are associated with kimberlite and lamproite pipes associated with ancient cratons. The main deposits of this type are known in Africa, Russia, Australia and Canada.

According to the materials of the Kimberley Process, the world diamond production in value terms in 2008 amounted to $ 12.732 billion.(increased by 6.7% over the previous year).

The search for diamonds in Russia was carried out for almost a century and a half, and only in the mid-50s were the richest primary diamond deposits discovered in Yakutia. On August 21, 1954, geologist Larisa Popugaeva from the geological team of Natalya Nikolaevna Sarsadskikh discovered the first kimberlite pipe outside South Africa. Its name was symbolic – “Zarnitsa”. The next was the pipe “Mir”, which was also symbolic after the Great Patriotic War.The Udachnaya pipe was opened. Such discoveries served as the beginning of industrial diamond mining on the territory of the USSR. At the moment, the lion’s share of the diamonds mined in Russia falls on the Yakut mining enterprises. In addition, large diamond deposits are located in the Krasnovishersky District of the Perm Territory, and in the Arkhangelsk Region: the Lomonosov on the territory of the Primorsky region and the Verkhotin deposit (named after V. Grib) on the territory of the Mezensky region.

In September 2012, the media reported that scientists had declassified information about the world’s largest deposit of impact diamonds, located on the border of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Yakutia.According to Nikolai Pokhilenko (director), this deposit contains trillions of carats.

Synthetic diamonds

Background and first attempts

In 1879, Scottish chemist James Hanney discovered that when alkali metals react with organic compounds, carbon is liberated in the form of graphite flakes and suggested that when such reactions are carried out under high pressure conditions, carbon can crystallize in the form of diamond. After a series of experiments in which a mixture of paraffin, bone oil and lithium was kept for a long time in a sealed steel pipe heated to red heat, he managed to obtain several crystals, which, after independent research, were recognized as diamonds.In the scientific world, his discovery was not recognized, since it was believed that diamond could not form at such low pressures and temperatures. A re-examination of Hanney’s samples, carried out in 1943 using X-ray analysis, confirmed that the crystals obtained were diamonds, but Professor K. Lonsdale, who carried out the analysis, again stated that Hanney’s experiments were a hoax.

Synthesis

Valentin Nikolayevich Bakul was the first to synthesize a diamond in Kiev at the Central Design Bureau of Carbide and Diamond Tools and organized the production of the first 2000 carats of artificial diamonds; since 1963their serial production has been adjusted.

Modern methods of diamond production use a gas environment consisting of 95% hydrogen and 5% carbon-containing gas (propane, acetylene), as well as high-frequency plasma concentrated on the substrate, where the diamond itself is formed (CVD). The gas temperature is from 700-850 ° C at a pressure thirty times less than atmospheric. Depending on the synthesis technology, the growth rate of diamonds is from 7 to 180 microns / hour on a substrate. In this case, diamond is deposited on a metal or ceramic substrate under conditions that generally stabilize not the diamond (sp3) but the graphite (sp2) form of carbon.The stabilization of the diamond is primarily due to the kinematic processes on the substrate surface. A fundamental condition for diamond deposition is the ability of the substrate to form stable carbides (also at diamond deposition temperatures: between 700 ° C and 900 ° C). For example, diamond deposition is possible on substrates of Si, W, Cr and is not possible (directly, or only with intermediate layers) on substrates of Fe, Co, Ni.

Application

The main types of cut are:

• round (with a standard number of 57 sides)
• fancy, which includes cuts such as

“Oval”,
“Pear” (one side of the oval is an acute angle),
“Marquise” (an oval with two sharp corners, in plan it looks like a stylized image of an eye),
“Princess”,
“radiant”
etc.

The cut of a diamond depends on the shape of the original diamond crystal. To obtain a diamond of the maximum value, cutters try to minimize the loss of the diamond during processing. Depending on the shape of the diamond crystal, 55-70% of its weight is lost during processing.

With regard to processing technology, rough diamonds can be conditionally divided into three large groups:

1. “Soubles” – as a rule, crystals of the correct octahedral shape, which must first be sawn into two parts, thus obtaining blanks for the production of two diamonds;
2. “makblez” – crystals of irregular or round shape, cut “one piece”;
3. “cleavage” – contains a crack and is first split before further processing.

The main centers of diamond cutting are: India, which specializes mainly in small diamonds weighing up to 0.30 carats; Israel cutting diamonds weighing over 0.30 carats; China, Russia, Ukraine, Thailand, Belgium, USA, while in the USA only large high-quality diamonds are produced, in China and Thailand – small, in Russia and Belgium – medium and large. This specialization has developed as a result of differences in the pay of diamond cutters.

Doctor of Technical Sciences Dronova Nona Dmitrievna in 2001 developed a methodology for evaluating rough diamonds, in which, when determining the cost of large crystals, the cost of diamonds that can be obtained from them is predicted.

See also

• NV center – nitrogen-substituted vacancy in diamond

Notes

1. TSB
2. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 3764 (1993): Thermal conductivity of isotopically modified single crystal diamond
3. Dronova Nona Dmitrievna. Changes in the color of diamonds during their processing into diamonds (a systematic approach and experimental research) thesis for the degree of candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences.Specialty 04. 00. 20 – mineralogy, crystallography. Moscow, 1991
4. Yuri Shelementyev, Petr Pisarev
   World of Diamonds (Russian)
   … Gemological Center of Moscow State University. – A black diamond is called a carbonado. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
5. Science and Technology, October 14, 2002
6. Coffee room | Neva, 2003 N9 | Evgeny Treyvus – Calvary of geologist Popugaeva
7. Lenin Prize 1957 was awarded to other geologists.Only in 1970, Popugaeva was awarded an honorary diploma and the sign “Discoverer of the deposit”
8. Scientists have declassified an impact diamond deposit in Siberia, Lenta.ru
   (September 16, 2012). Retrieved September 18, 2012.
9. “Large diamond – from small ones”
10. B. F. Danilov “DIAMONDS AND PEOPLE”
11. life strategy of a creative person
12. Journal “Universities”
13. Technology of production and purification of detonation diamonds // Solid State Physics, 2004, volume 46, no.4. – p. 586
14. lenta.ru: “New technology will make it possible to create diamonds of any size” based on the materials of “New Scientist”
15. New n-Type Diamond Semiconductor Synthesized
16. Ekimov, E. A .; V. A. Sidorov, E. D. Bauer, N. N. Mel’nik, N. J. Curro, J. D. Thompson, S. M. Stishov (2004) Superconductivity in diamond Nature
    428
    (6982): 542-545. DOI: 10.1038 / nature02449. ISSN 0028-0836. Retrieved on 2010-02-22.
17. Superconductivity in Polycrystalline Diamond Thin Films

Literature

• Dronova N.D., Kuzmina I.E.
  Characteristics and evaluation of rough diamonds. – M
  .: MGGU, 2004 .– 74 p.
• Epifanov V.I., Pesina A. Ya., Zykov L.V.
  Technology for processing diamonds into polished diamonds. – Study guide for environments. Vocational school. – M
  .: High School, 1987.
• Orlov Yu.L.
  Mineralogy of diamond. – M
  .: Science, 1984.

Links

Diamond “Koh-i-Nor” – the unfulfilled hope of Shah Nadir

Not far from the truth was the great romantic Robert Louis Stevenson, who described in his story “Raja’s Diamond” the bloody path of the “Eye of Light” stone, which Prince Florizel managed to put an end to.

The history of almost all gemstones is tragic. Thus, the Shah diamond found on Indian soil in the 16th century brought only misfortune to all its owners. After the defeat of Delhi by the formidable Shah Nadir, the stone was taken to Persia, where a hundred years later, on January 30, 1829, the Russian writer and diplomat A.S. Griboyedov was killed. For his blood, the Russian Emperor Nicholas I was paid with the same stone. Many precious stones are followed by a long train of death. But the most infamous was the stone that is the pride of the British Empire today – the Koh-i-Nor diamond.

The Koh-i-Nor diamond. Photo: lusana.ru

For six thousand years mankind has known a diamond – the hardest, most expensive, rare and brilliant stone on earth. For thousands of years, people have believed in his strength, the strength that gives strength, courage, health and good luck. Nevertheless, these stones very often brought some misfortune to their owners. It is quite easy to be convinced of this by studying the history of almost all famous diamonds. One of the oldest of them is Koh-i-Nor.

In the first half of the 18th century, it was owned by the ruler of the Mughal Empire, Muhammad Shah. His possessions, torn apart by wars and civil strife, have been invaded many times. Our story, connected with the “bloody” but such a beautiful stone, tells about the invasion of the troops of the ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah.

Thanks to his military talents, cunning and cruelty, the son of a shepherd made his way to the pinnacle of power. Shah Nadir ruled the multinational state in the period from 1736 to 1747, he possessed a huge and most powerful army at that time, his glory increased every day, and his wealth grew rapidly.It seemed that everything was subject to him: even stubborn, calm-looking camels, these indefatigable “ships of the desert”, brought death to his enemies, turning into “light camel artillery” (the Iranians installed cannons on camels). It so happened that the shah went to war against the Mughal empire – and his military campaign, they say, was predetermined largely due to an irresistible desire to take possession of the precious stone.

Photo: quora.com

According to legend, the Shah needed stability of power, and it was supposedly only the stone of dreams – “Koh-i-nor”, could provide it.It was for his sake that the campaign to India was undertaken. The ruler of Iran was convinced that the diamond would give eternal power to those he deemed worthy. It is not for nothing that the Arabs sacredly believed that of the two warring parties, the winner would be the owner of a larger and, therefore, more valuable crystal. The Hindus attributed five qualities to the stone that make its owner stronger. The Persians, however, argued that “close contemplation of a transparent diamond saves you from blues, removes a dark veil from your eyes, makes a person more discerning and tunes him in a cheerful mood.”But the shah wanted to become the sole owner of the stone, securing power for his descendants for eternity. By that time, he already possessed the Shah diamond, and his throne was adorned with another famous gem, the Sea of ​​Light – Derianur, later it was donated by Grigory Orlov to Catherine II, and then inserted into the scepter of Russian emperors. That stone went down in history under the name “Orlov”.

Throughout the autumn of 1738, Iranian troops devastated villages and cities, and the sovereign, without waiting for the beginning of summer, led his army to Delhi.”Camel artillery” did its job – the city was taken. The terrible Shah did not change the old dynasty, because he understood perfectly well that, leaving the Great Mughals in power, he was bringing confusion and civil strife into the elite of the defeated state. And then, according to sources, the shah was kind: entering the capital as a winner, he never tired of smiling, then arranged magnificent receptions, celebrating the victory. Moreover, he even ordered not to plunder Delhi. The conqueror waited patiently, not showing his interest in the famous stone …

However, one day he was informed that some local residents attempted a riot and killed several Iranian soldiers.And then everything changed: the ruler decided to severely punish the guilty. The city was subjected to unprecedented robbery. But, alas, they didn’t find it even in the “Koh-i-Nor” palace, which made Nadir Shah very angry. But later, it suddenly turned out that the owner of the stone, Muhammad-Shah, constantly wears it in his turban. Then the cunning conqueror offered the defeated one to exchange turbans as a sign of “eternal friendship”. He did not dare to refuse. So Nadir Shah became the owner of the precious stone.

Photo: kaiajoyasuruguay.blogspot.com

Seeing the diamond, he exclaimed: “Koh-i-Nur”! (“Mountain of Light”). The Shah was delighted – now it was possible to die in peace, because his descendants would rule a vast empire until the end of the centuries. But the ruler was mistaken, because he did not take into account that a diamond loses its power if it is owned by a person subject to vices. At least many legends tell about this. He also forgot that the stone, as one of the legends again says, must be obtained voluntarily, without coercion and violence.Only then does the owner receive the greatest power. If all these conditions are not met, then the diamond supposedly brings death to the owner. And Shah Nadir was sinful and vicious, he could no longer correct something in this regard.

When he seized the throne, he ordered to kill all members of the family of the previous shah. His vast empire, which, besides Persia, later included, by the way, the territories of Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Afghanistan, Armenia and Georgia, he kept in constant fear, and severely punished any disobedience.He flew too high, bathing in someone else’s pain and blood. But the East, as you know, is a delicate matter, and where it is subtle, undoubtedly, it breaks faster. So Shah Nadir did not escape an evil fate – in 1847 he became a victim of a conspiracy, was killed, and the empire he founded collapsed like a house of cards.

“The villain arrived in the capital last winter and was engaged only in maiming, strangling and burning people alive. And all this in order to get money and show himself as a formidable sovereign, terrifying the whole world.Among others, he for no reason ordered to burn alive at the stake the kindest Count Harutyun Shariman – a pillar of the Catholic faith in this country, and a few days later the brother of the burned person Leon Shariman died of anguish and fear … the same. Then he proceeded to Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan, where he erected seven very high towers of human heads, burned alive the two sons of his nephew Ali Qudi Khan and blinded his mother and wife. Then, on the way from Mashhad, it occurred to him to betray to the sword his entire personal guard, which consisted of four thousand people.But they learned about the monarch’s intention, a dozen of the bravest came to the shah’s tent and, chopping the tyrant into pieces, sent them to all parts of the country. The head was separated from the body and placed on the point of a spear … ”- this is how the Christian missionary in Iran, brother Sebastian from Julfa, described the death of the Great lover of precious stones.

Photo: wnyc.org

After the events described, “Koh-i-Nor” disappeared for some time without a trace, but then it “surfaced” in Afghanistan.It rapidly changed owners: local emirs became its owners, to whom the “Koh-i-nor” brought nothing but misfortune. Some, not waiting for old age, died in battles, others humbly accepted death from the knife or poison of the court conspirators, and someone perished in exile or died in poverty. In Afghanistan, after the death of Emir Timur, a long period of turmoil followed. His sons were never able to share power. One of them, having stolen all the treasures, asked for refuge from the Rajah of Punjab Rajit Sikh. In return, he received a part of the stolen goods – including “Koh-i-Nor”.

So, passing from one owner to another and bringing death to almost each of them, the stone visited eighteen states of Hindustan. In 1848, a sepoy uprising broke out, after which the British troops suppressed Rajit Sikh was no longer destined to admire the “Mountain of Light”. As a trophy of war, the stone got to the Governor-General, who, in turn, presented it to the British Queen Victoria. The British re-cut the diamond, reducing it from 186 to 108 carats.As a result, the “King of Diamonds” became the property of Queen Victoria, taking the most honorable place in her brooch. After her death, the “Star of the Indian Empire” – “Koh-i-nor” was inserted into the Royal State Crown. Today the stone is the property of British kings, it occupies the same place of honor in their collection – as, indeed, the Cullinan stone, once mined in the mines of South Africa. For a long time, it was considered the largest diamond in the world – it was given as a birthday present to Edward VII.

Who knows, it is likely that the deadly essence of the diamond will once again manifest itself – for too long it has been living in the darkness of the walls of the Tower, haunting the living.For too long, this stone has not received energy from the death of people. And for too long no one stained their hands with blood. Prophecies sometimes come true. Let’s hope not this time. 90,000 The squirrel creator in Almaty will not be allowed to burn the structure as usual

The huge squirrel will be removed after 9 months, the author of the construction suggests / Photo informburo.kz

The new ecoart object “Belka”, installed at the Atakent Exhibition Center, cost the Almaty budget 15 million tenge.

“Squirrel is a joint project of the state and the Funk agency. The project cost is 23 million tenge, of which 15 million tenge was allocated from the budget of Almaty. We invested the rest. This is a four-storey house, 15 tons of steel, 3 tons of wood, 3 tons of straw, fees to artists, flights, logistics. This is a six-month work. 23 million tenge is actually a small amount “, – said the head of the creative agency Funk Maira Izmaylova.

Deputy Head of Almaty Culture Department Naylya Mulyukova and Head of Funk Creative Agency Maira Izmailova at the presentation of the Belka art object / Photo by Almaz Toleke / informburo.kz

In addition, the “Almaty is a warm city” competition was financed from the budget of Almaty.

“The total cost of 16 small architectural forms, including the competition, Alex’s participation in it (artist – Aut. ), cost 78 million tenge. The condition of the akimat was that the Funk agency would bear part of the costs and attract sponsors”, – added the deputy head of the department of culture of Almaty Naylya Mulyukova.

The organizers plan that the squirrel will stay near the Atakent for 9 months.

“The installation is temporary, it will stand for about 9 months. It will inevitably change its appearance, because due to quality, due to pollution, in a couple of months it will lose its appearance, which it has now,” said artist Alex Rinsler, the author of the installation …

Artists Alex Rinsler and Marius Jansen are finishing the squirrel / Photo by Almaz Toleke / informburo.kz

Together with Alex, the art object was constructed by the South African artist Marius Jansen.

“The total height of the sculpture is about 12 meters. Together with all the details, everything weighs about 12-13 tons. Most of the time I was responsible for making the eyes and the acorn. We used epoxy for them. We took a lot of time to make out the eyes of the squirrel. not in 100% copying what we see in the picture, but in order to convey this naturalness to the eyes, life in the eyes, as if they are real and looking at us, “said Marius Jansen.

The deputy head of the department of culture of Almaty said that the squirrel appeared because it was necessary to improve the pedestrian zones of the city.

“We took a long time to choose the place. There were a lot of sites for a good view of the squirrel. But Alex wanted people to come up, touch, take a picture in front of it, and we settled on the Atakent,” explained Naylya Mulyukova.

There are no plans to burn squirrel like Alex Rinsler usually does.

“Alex is a conceptual artist, and his tradition is to create, then burn everything. Initially, Alex had a proposal to burn the art object. According to our traditions, this is unacceptable.We will not burn. Straw squirrel. Let’s see how it will look in 9 months. Maybe we ourselves will want to remove it, “explained Mayra Izmailova.

A huge squirrel entered the Book of Records of Kazakhstan as the largest art object / Photo by Almaz Toleke / informburo.kz

Also, the squirrel was protected from vandals and fires.

“The hay at the depot was treated with a special refractory liquid. We tested it, chose the best one, does not burn.We will install capsules that stop the fire. We installed alarm sensors. Two surveillance cameras will appear on the poles, “said Mayra Izmailova.

According to Alex Rinsler, each such project should fulfill a task useful for the city. For example, the figure of a fox in Shanghai was designed so that birds could nest in it.
⠀
The Almaty object “Belka” will also perform an important placemaking function. According to the artist’s idea, the art object will become a space for creative events and a popular recreation place for citizens.

“I proposed to build a giant squirrel as an image that symbolizes life in Almaty. Squirrels are the prototype of urban neighbors. Like us, they have adapted to life in the city, and just like us, they need resources to survive and thrive. . The squirrel holds an acorn. It symbolizes the reward – supplies, a bright future. The squirrel presses it to itself so tightly that its legs do not seem to fit into the shape of the nut, “Alex told about the project.

Alex Rinsler came to Almaty in March 2018.He carried out an artistic study of the environment and made his choice based on the data and impressions about the city. Large animals are the hallmark of the artist.

“I hope that people will be able to identify with this giant squirrel, with its beauty and strength, and at the same time with the feeling of depression and uncertainty that unite us in these unpredictable times. I create giant animals to give to people, as well as a holiday to our invisible city dwellers.This is a kind of interpretation of the commentary on life in the city. I make the figures very large and the animals develop invisible power and inspire with their sense of awe. I choose human-like (anthropomorphic) poses that create a kind of mystical connection with the viewer, as if he had changed places and became smaller. I place the sculpture in unexpected places, and the viewer asks questions about the attitude to this world and around it: squirrels travel around the city wherever they please, while we are limited by our own rules, “the artist believes.

As conceived by the authors of “Squirrel”, the use of organic materials gives dynamism to the work and creates a contrast to concrete buildings, eternal symbols and other public monuments, mostly made of bronze or steel.

“Organic materials change with the seasons, which adds mythicality, vitality to the work. I add warmth to the animal character to create a special connection with the viewer, something that a person of any age will fall in love with, thus creating an iconic figure that will develop your life online and around the world.I also add a little pathos because life in the city can be tough. In general, my intention is to acquaint the viewer with an extraordinary place in which he can look at the city with different eyes, “the artist concluded.

Alex has 15 years of experience in the UK with companies such as Southbank Center, Tate and Cancer Research UK, Home and Whitworth in Manchester, and is also the organizer and producer of the Creative Lead for Blackpool Illuminations urban illumination festival.His work is always associated with the involvement of citizens in the project and the transformation of the urban environment.

Reflection of a squirrel on a police car / Photo by Almaz Toleke / informburo.kz

Alex Rinsler has completed projects in Argentina, China, Australia, South Africa, USA and Finland as an artist and producer.

The most popular of his works are giant animal figures made from ecological materials. Residents of Shanghai, Manchester, London and Bloemfontein are familiar with his installations.

Earlier, the creative agency Funk said that in addition to the squirrel, 15 new art objects will appear in the center of Almaty. Almost all the ideas were proposed by the townspeople, and their implementation was sponsored by the akimat.