Diamonds Are Not Forever?

Dare I say that iron deserves the highest regard?  And, this is where you say, “Excuse me?” This begs an explanation but before I do that the diamond has some explaining first.

It was not until 1477 that the very first diamond engagement ring was given as a symbol of pre-matrimonial promise.  It was Archduke Maximilian who started it when he gave a ring adorned with flat diamonds to the love of his heart - Mary of Burgundy.  But then, as only royalty and the super-rich can afford it, it did not really catch on as an obligatory gesture of professing one’s love.

It was, in fact, not for another four centuries later, when Cecil Rhodes came to South Africa to found the De Beers Mining Co. that eventually controlled 90% of the world’s supply; true even today.  It was in 1886 that Tiffany introduced their trademark setting, later followed in 1918 by Cartier’s “Trinity” ring.  However, it was not until the middle of the 20th century, after the Second World War, when America’s wealth was emerging and the escalating growth of personal income enabled the average earner to “splurge” on a diamond ring for the lovely maiden.  Of course, that was not the whole story.  It was the clever marketing of Be Beers that did it.  When Marilyn Monroe was picked to say, (or did she sing it?), “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” and the glossy print and billboard ads that declared, “Diamonds Are Forever” that sealed the deal for De Beers. Controlling the supply was the next clever thing even as the craving for it grew.

So how did this multi-faceted sparkling piece of adornment become one of the most coveted possessions?  It is actually made of pure carbon which, next only to hydrogen and helium, is a very common element in the universe.  So common in fact that life as we know it is essentially carbon based.  It is in our food as carbohydrates, source of most of our energy as hydrocarbons, and it is a waste product of every animal’s respiratory system although plants can’t live without it. 

Now, with carbon are other expensive elements that make possible the diamond ring.  A piece of crystalline rock is nothing without the settings of gold, silver and now platinum.  However, none of these elements could have become what they are if not for iron.  That’s right!  “Iron?” you say?

While diamond, the ones mined here, are earth-made through high pressure and temperature deep in the earth’s crust the other heavier elements, 60% of all the 92 naturally occurring elements in the periodic table can only be made by a much, much more intense temperature and pressure that are only possible in supernova explosions.  A star continues to shine for as long as it has hydrogen “to burn”.  The hydrogen atom fuses into helium as energy is released in the process that will take billions of years to finish for an average-size star like our sun.  Much bigger stars, thousands bigger and more massive than our sun will burn relatively quickly, turning hydrogen into helium rapidly (just a few million years), and then helium will fuse to form carbon.  The star will start to collapse under its own gravity – converting carbon into iron.  Iron will begin to settle into its core and as soon as that happens, almost in a blink of an eye, the heavy star will implode on itself and the shock wave from the sudden collapse will result in a massive explosion – a supernova will light up, outshining an entire galaxy momentarily.  It is during that explosion that heavier elements will be formed, and only then. 

The shock wave will compress surrounding hydrogen elements trillions of miles around to cause many, many stars to be born.  Our sun is supposed to be a second or third generation star out of the repeating processes.  All the elements formed during the supernova explosion will be spread out in a mix of material where some of them will be part of the molten swirling matter orbiting a star to become its planets.  One of those became our earth with a rich supply of the heavy elements from calcium to sodium, etc. and gold and silver, on and on.  Diamonds came last as the earth starts crushing carbon deep in its cooling crust.

There you have a story in the life of a star, one of a couple of billions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.  But I digressed, though I hope you enjoyed the side trip.  Now you know iron signals the death of a star but it is also the reason a supernova explodes and new stars will be born.  You may want to know that the iron in your blood, your razor or the chassis of your car, or the cast iron skillet in your kitchen was at one time in the belly of a supernova eons ago, far, far away. Your prized possession of gold and silver, the calcium and potassium supplements you take were at one time created by unimaginable shockwaves that fused other elements to make them billions of years ago.

These elements we talked about have a forever history, so to speak, more than diamonds that are far from forever with its past or its future.  This is not a knock on diamonds but a profound inculpation on De Beers and those who traffic in so called blood diamonds or more diplomatically conflict diamonds from Angola to Sierra Leone to the Congo, etc.  And the thing is that iron and gold, and other heavy elements are indestructible by any regular process, except perhaps in a nuclear explosion, whereas, diamonds will shatter with a hammer blow or burn and disappear in a furnace. But, like you, I find diamond a dazzling piece to own or give away (if I can afford it).  Notwithstanding skyscrapers, bridges, iron tools, and steel safes to keep your diamonds safe, none of these can even compare to the allure and power of this coveted sparkler that is the hardest substance to scratch or acquire. 

I guess diamonds can be forever in one’s lifetime or the lifetime of a marriage.  Speaking of the latter, marital bliss will sparkle forever into generations that follow, ring or no ring.