We all love our diamonds. We want to have them as part of our jewellery because, let us admit it, they look pretty next to our dresses. Diamonds are most perfect with your little black dress as accents. Heads start to turn at the sight of a diamond's sparkle and lustre. They also say that diamonds have great value and that they can "last forever." Well, you are about to find out what the scientific basis is behind the statement "diamonds are forever."

 

Check out how diamonds are shaped. By definition, diamonds are naturally occurring gemstones, and they form after going through a specific process to arrive at what they are now.

 

How Diamonds Form Naturally

 

Diamonds are formed in environments of extreme pressures and heat. Because of that, they form, most of the time, in the Earth's mantle where the ideal natural environment is located. If you remember the 2003 disaster movie, The Core, you might recognise this environment in one particular scene. Now, the ideal temperature needed to form a diamond is at least 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. A diamond, in its most natural form, takes shape in the earth's mantle or at depth of around 150 kilometres below ground level. This perfect environment is known as a stability zone; the heat and pressure there are stable enough to encourage diamond synthesis.

 

There are also instances, however, that diamonds form outside the stability zone. Diamonds can also take shape in the subduction zone, a place where two lithospheric plates come together, one riding over the other. 

 

Since they are formed well deep below the surface, how do the diamonds reach above ground level? This comes as a result of tectonic movement that push lava and other stuff from the mantle, including diamonds, to the surface.

 

Diamonds Can Take Shape in Space

 

Diamonds could also form as a result of influence from factors that are outside the planet. For instance, an asteroid impact on the surface of the Earth ignites heat that surpasses that of the Sun, and that is more than enough to spur on the creation of natural diamonds. Smaller meteorite influences could also create tiny diamonds as well. In addition, scientists have also found evidence of diamonds forming on asteroid fragments that have fallen to Earth as meteors. The Allen Hill meteorite, specifically, had tiny diamonds embedded in it. My theory is that the excessive pressure conditions in outer space could give birth to diamonds when coupled with the heat and energy given out in the event of high speed collisions between asteroids and other heavenly bodies. 

 

So how do these explain the statement "Diamonds are forever?" More specifically, majority of the diamonds that have been mined have been dated to be more than 545 million years old. Here is the clincher - diamonds have already formed way before life on Earth has even begun to blossom. Before there were plants - they created in the Cambrian period around 542 million years ago - there already have been diamonds.