9781422279441

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Carbon

Diamonds vs. Graphite

While both diamonds and graphite are made of carbon (and only carbon, with some minor impurities at times), they have very different properties. Graphite (below) has a hardness of about 2 on Mohs’ Hardness Scale, while diamond has a hardness of 10. Diamonds are insulators, while graphite can conduct electric- ity. Graphite is opaque , while diamonds, for the most part, are transparent. The reason behind these differences? It has to do with the arrangement and bonding of the carbon atoms on a very, very small scale—the nanoscale.

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