Diamonds can burn, and I believe many people think this is a bit incredible! Diamond in the eyes of many people, has always been an expensive ornament, because of its transparency, crystal so many people like, in addition to these, it also has a very hardness, not easy to be destroyed, while its production in nature is also relatively small, rare is expensive, so diamonds will become one of the expensive ornaments.
According to the American fun science website reported on September 6, diamonds are composed of carbon, just like coal. But compared to coal, diamonds are on fire and burn in higher conditions, and as evidenced by a large number of demonstration videos, diamonds do burn. Theoretically, if burned long enough, a diamond made entirely of carbon would disappear completely; however, most diamonds contain at least impurities such as nitrogen, so the combustion reaction cannot be so simple.
Why diamonds can burn, because its material composition is very unique, the main constituent element of diamonds is carbon (C), and the content of carbon (C) reaches 96% to 99.9%, that is to say, diamonds contain only about 4% of impurities at most.
On the other hand, carbon is a very common element in nature, and it is widely present in the atmosphere and the earth's crust and organisms in many forms. In particular, these substances, such as coal, are combustible substances, and its main component is also carbon.
People who have studied chemical elements know that C is the most common natural constituent element, basically all substances have the elemental component of C, and C element has a special role, that is, the non-metallic C element composed of the substance (organic matter) is flammable.
The fuels we use include coal, oil, natural gas, etc., the main components are composed of C, and even the organic matter of other fuels, the main components are C, and in nature, as long as the non-metallic organic matter composed of C elements, they have a flash point, as long as they reach this temperature or condition, they can be burned.
Generally speaking, anthracite coal in coal, its carbon content of up to 90% or more, is an ideal combustion energy, and relative to diamonds, its carbon content and coal anthracite coal is only a few percent difference in content, but we all know that the combustion of coal, has been in the pursuit of continuous improvement of carbon content, theoretically, the carbon content of diamonds is very close to the ideal state of coal combustion.
But because the composition of the diamond structure is relatively special, although up to 96% of the carbon content, but the particularity of the structure makes the diamond more stable and not easy to burn, not easy but does not mean that it will not burn, through a variety of experiments to prove that the diamond can also burn, as long as the conditions are enough, the burning time is enough, the same can be burned into ashes.
At this point, I can't help but think of a sentence that all matter in nature contains the element C, and everything can be burned, as long as the conditions are right, nothing cannot be burned.