According to an article in the Smithsonian, the Hope Diamond was taken from the National Museum of Natural History's gem hall for an overnight stay in the mineralogy lab. Geologists held an experiment to figure out why the Hope Diamond is so blue. The deep ocean blue color is rare in diamonds, occurring in only one out of several hundred thousand diamonds. The Hope is 45.52 carats, and is the largest known deep blue diamond. On November 21st, 2010 there was a documentary about the Hope Diamond on the Smithsonian channel which showed parts of this experiment. Geologists know that the main "ingredient" that makes the Hope Diamond so blue is boron. After many hours of experimenting, the results read that boron, carbon, hydrogen and possibly some nitrogen were present. According to the article it will be months before scientists can publish full results from the experiment.I think it's really interesting the things that scientists can do. Just by putting a diamond into a machine they can figure out what elements made up the Hope Diamond. I also find it interesting that they are allowed to "borrow" something so rare and worth so much money. I wasn't aware that the Hope Diamond was the largest known deep blue diamond. If I got the Smithsonian channel I may have considered watching the documentary because this is a very interesting experiment in my opinion.
Being a girl, this post definitely caught my eye :) Isn't it just amazing how scientists are able to figure out those sort of things? It's very interesting. I've always been curious as to why the Hope Diamond was blue.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed an amazing diamond. It is astonishing that science can figure out what components it is made of so easily. What a rare diamond, the only one found of this size.
ReplyDeleteI never understood how diamonds were different colors, so this article explained a lot to me. I don't know how scientists are able to figure out what makes up a diamond, but it is pretty to look at nonetheless.
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