10 billion trillion trillion carat diamond found (No typos, yes I'm serious)

[carrrnuttt]

Originally Posted by originalmike

D[X]P is right. It wouldn't be worth anything after such a large amount would be found at the same time.

DeBeers, the largest diamond mining company in the world (they supply a huge majority of the world's diamonds), has been reported to own huge vaults of pure diamonds that they are deliberately keeping off the market...ensuring the diamond's continued high value.

Neutrino: Although the "source" may be AP, the person they quoted directly was "Travis Metcalfe, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics", whom I would assume, would know a bit more about this subject than you, or most other people who might have given you, or whom you read from, the "popular theories".

Also, I am quite sure they have the funding for a proper densitometer, a colorimeter, and a spectrophotometer at least, which is enough equipment to verify the composition of materials reachable by their radio and satellite telescopes.

Lastly, check this quote: "Astronomers have suspected for decades that white dwarfs crystallized, but only recently were able to verify the hypothesis."

[speediva]

I will have to back Neutrino somewhat. Knowing that Carbon is not NEARLY the heaviest element in the known universe, the gravity of the collapsing star would continue to bind C and C to make something heavier. At least that's my understanding... Unless that star was JUST the right size, in which case it would be possible that the gravity of the dying star would be just enough to pull the C in with the force to create diamond but not enough to crush the C further...

[carrrnuttt]

Originally Posted by saturntangerine

I will have to back Neutrino somewhat. Knowing that Carbon is not NEARLY the heaviest element in the known universe, the gravity of the collapsing star would continue to bind C and C to make something heavier. At least that's my understanding... Unless that star was JUST the right size, in which case it would be possible that the gravity of the dying star would be just enough to pull the C in with the force to create diamond but not enough to crush the C further...

First-off, weight and density do not necessarily come hand-in-hand...as in a heavy element will not necessarily mean that it will be dense.

Hassium, one of the heaviest elements known to man, is gaseous in its natural state, while Osmium, in the same group(8), as Hassium, is a metal, and one of the most dense materials in the world, along with Iridium, another metal.

Also, think about it this way: Coal, graphite and a diamond are all forms of carbon. Which then carries the density of Carbon? The answer is all of them.

It is quite possible that whatever they discovered is a super-dense diamond, for all we know.

All I know is someone a LOT smarter than me in such matters acknowledged whatever it is as a diamond, so I'll leave it at that for now. I'll wait for the final papers to come out to come up with my personal conclusion, however.

[originalmike]

Originally Posted by carrrnuttt

DeBeers, the largest diamond mining company in the world (they supply a huge majority of the world's diamonds), has been reported to own huge vaults of pure diamonds that they are deliberately keeping off the market...ensuring the diamond's continued high value.
[/i]

Yeah, I guess you're right. Even if DeBeers would not acquire this diamond it would be regulated to keep diamond prices high.