Cubic and hexagonal diamond can be distinguished by their layer-stacking sequences, commonly described as ABC and AB respectively. Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare use a staircase analogy to make that difference easier to picture before returning to the history of synthetic diamond.
291 words · auto-generated from the episode video
19:29but I think sort of like what's interesting is you can kind of see the the offset you're talking about. Like imagine a staircase that has three stairs. >> Mhm. >> One and then two like when you're looking at it from the side. >> Yeah. >> So, you know, the cubic diamond is almost like three steps on a staircase. >> Yeah. >> Uh where the offset on the C is significantly farther away from the A. >> Yeah. >> But in the hexagonal it's just two steps. Um and so imagine you're creating like this staircase that's going back and forth like this. >> Having two versus three >> Yeah. You can already think yes. >> structurally that it would be >> It would be better. It would be harder. The things would be closer packed. The bonds would be a bit stronger. The layers would be a bit stronger. And just
20:11theoretically you can just like kind of imagine that this hexagonal diamond is going to be harder and better than a cubic diamond. >> Right. >> Right. >> Right. We will not be playing the Daft Punk song harder better faster stronger. However, it would be a good theme for this episode. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll put it in the socials. Right? So, okay. Discovered in the 1960s. This is when they're like, "Okay. I think we found it." right? >> Yes. >> So, in the 1960s in parallel it's kind of a golden age for high pressure physics because General Electric GE the company, they achieved the first reproducible synthesis of diamond from graphite. >> Mhm. >> You know, lab diamonds. Synthetic diamonds. They invented it in the 1960s. This is General Electric. Actually 1954.
ChemistryMaterials SciencePhysicsEngineering