Some of you might have never heard about this. But did you know that diamonds can be crushed with a small amount of perfectly concentrated pressure?
As we all know, a diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material in our world. Some can compete for that first place. But all of them couldn’t even hold a candle next to the overall hardness of diamonds. Despite all odds, diamonds aren’t indestructible.
Because of that, most people nowadays have a wrong perception of how sturdy diamonds are – and to illustrate that better, we’ll ask a simple question: Can diamond be crushed?
Well, to tell you the truth, all diamonds can be crushed, regardless of how big and tough they might be.
How is that possible? If you can crush diamonds, is it false then to call them the hardest natural material? How are diamonds most commonly crushed, and can a human crush a diamond with bare hands?
Surprisingly, all diamonds have a weak point somewhere. Do you know what and where that weak point is located? If you wish to learn more about crushing diamonds, we highly suggest that you stick around longer!
Diamonds Are Extremely Durable!
To determine how valuable something is, we need to dissect the rarity aspect of it.
We can all agree that it’s a well-known fact that diamonds are costly on the free market. Regardless of how hard you search for a cheap diamond, you won’t find one with a price tag more affordable than $2000.
And if you do find one, something might be seriously wrong with that stone. It’s always recommended to ask the jeweler selling the diamond to show you the stone’s certificate.
There needs to be a photo of that diamond on the certificate and relevant information regarding that stone. If the jeweler doesn’t provide you with a certificate, we suggest that you give up on that diamond.
You can never honestly tell where that diamond came from without it.
Much illegal diamond trafficking is present nowadays; stay on your feet if you wish to buy a diamond or two!
Nonetheless, there’s a reason why diamonds are so costly – they are rare, durable, and, most importantly, appearance-wise, stunning to look at time and time again.
In the brightest sun and the darkest night, diamonds can emit a special light that’s impossible to mimic in any shape or form. Because of that, diamonds are heavily sought after in today’s market.
As you can see, diamonds are an irresistible part of our lives, and for most people, it’s impossible to imagine a single day passing without wearing diamonds.
When we say wearing “diamonds,” we’re referring to jewelry that’s embedded with these precious stones.
The other thing that propels the price of all diamonds to such an extent is that they are both rare and durable. As far as the rarity goes, we can all agree that there isn’t a need to go too deep into that topic.
But the durability of diamonds is an entirely different story, especially since there’s a common misconception about the general term “durability of diamonds.”
Most people still believe that diamonds are one of those indestructible, almost mythical materials that could never be crushed into small pieces. But that’s because people in the past didn’t possess the necessary tools and technology to build devices that can generate enough force to crush these precious stones.
Until the hydraulic press was invented, people usually used their raw strength or other materials to hit an object until they crushed it. As far as diamonds were concerned, the precious stone was considered nearly indestructible until the hydraulic press was introduced.
Don’t get us wrong: People were still able to crush a diamond. But it required advanced knowledge and strength.
Nothing Can Withstand The Mighty Hydraulic Press
Depending on how advanced the technology inside a hydraulic press is, it should be able to generate enough force – and crush a diamond into small pieces.
Why would anyone wish to crush a diamond with a hydraulic press?
Most of the time, people will come up with these ideas wanting to test the potential outcome of something in real-time. In this case, if you wish to know how well-made a hydraulic press is, one test would be to put a diamond under it.
Although only a handful of hydraulic presses can’t crush a diamond, most of them nowadays can efficiently perform that feat.
Take one of the newest hydraulic press models: To generate the force necessary to crush a diamond, they need to be large and sturdy. Most of them are easy to manipulate and can be powered on with a single button press.
After we turn on the hydraulic press, we can place a diamond between the presses. It’s recommended that the diamond is one carat – any more than that is overkill and won’t benefit the end result in any shape or form.
Not to mention that diamonds get considerably more expensive if they weigh more. For comparison: A one-carat diamond weighs only 0.2 grams. The price for diamonds that we’ve listed above refers to a one-carat diamond.
Pretty expensive, don’t you agree?
All jokes aside, a one-carat diamond will be more than enough when testing the performance ability of high-end hydraulic presses.
On a serious note: It’s vital to remember that you need both gloves and goggles whenever you mess around with a hydraulic press and diamonds. Before we put a diamond under the hydraulic press, we need to protect ourselves; you’ll soon understand why.
Usually, there will be only a handful of buttons on a hydraulic press. When trying to crush diamonds, the most important ones will be the one that powers the system on and the switch that controls the overall movement of the hydraulic press.
When we place the diamond, we need to ensure that the diamonds won’t move from that position. We will discuss later why it is essential to set the diamond in an appropriate position.
But for now, just placing the diamond between the hydraulic press will be fine. Start the machine up and slowly descend the upper part of the hydraulic press.
When it comes in contact with a diamond, it will descend at a slower rate.
But after several seconds, it will just crush the diamond into small pieces, continuing to descend until it makes complete contact with the lower part of the hydraulic press.
And in the meantime, the diamond will be crushed to the degree where small parts of it will fly across the room.
Because of that, it’s crucial to remember that we have to wear protective gloves and goggles. If a tiny spec of diamond dust makes contact with our eyes, the chances are that we’ll need to go to the doctor immediately.
Crushing diamonds isn’t something that’s usually performed, though.
Most people won’t even have a chance to witness that on the Internet, let alone be present when it’s happening live. Then again, other tests can be performed to determine the performance-ability of a hydraulic press.
Are There Other Ways To Crush A Diamond?
To better understand how to crush a diamond, we need to dissect what the term “crush” means.
As a verb, to crush (a diamond) means to apply enough force while pressing the precious stone between two objects, to partially – or entirely – change that diamond’s overall structure and appearance.
But, as a noun, to crush (a diamond), we can apply any kind of pressure by violently colliding the diamond with another object.
You can achieve the first definition by placing a diamond under a hydraulic press, where the press will entirely crush the diamond to the point of no return.
Are there any other ways to crush a diamond by applying pressure?
The first thing that comes to mind is to try to crush a diamond with our bare hands.
Sadly – or instead, fortunately – natural diamonds are impossible to crush with our bare hands. Humans aren’t capable of generating enough force to crush a diamond with raw strength alone.
On the other hand, if we want to talk about the word crush as a noun – then that’s an entirely different story. Although we can generate enough power to crush a diamond, we can use other objects that, with our power, can destroy a diamond into small pieces.
That is where a hammer comes in handy.
But not every type of hammer; only steel hammers should be considered when discussing this topic. You can try all you want – but it’s impossible to crush a natural diamond with a wooden and plastic hammer.
For you to crush a natural diamond, you’ll need to use a steel hammer. Not only that – you’ll need to generate enough force.
Only then – and with a swift swing – can we crush a diamond by hitting it with a steel hammer.
If you wish to know more, we can help you out. Just click on the link here, and you’ll discover everything there is about destroying diamonds with a hammer!
Learn More: What Can Destroy A Diamond?
Cleavage Patterns Of A Diamond
As we previously stated, if you need to crush a diamond – for whatever reason – you’ll need to position it appropriately.
How can I tell if I placed a diamond in the right way before trying to crush it?
Usually, you won’t know if you’ve correctly placed the diamond before trying to crush it. But, if you have a microscope at your disposal, then you might be a step closer to accomplishing that goal.
What are cleavage patterns?
Diamonds have four cleavage directions, and those directions are defined as angles at which the diamond crystallizes. You’ve probably heard about this now for the first time in your life.
But there’s no need to worry about that for the time being.
The only thing that you should remember is that hitting or applying pressure directly on one of the diamonds’ cleavage patterns will have a devastating, crushing effect on that diamond.
You can consider these cleavage patterns as diamonds’ most vulnerable points.
Everything in this world, regardless of whether it is organic or inorganic, will inevitably have several weak spots. And diamonds are no exception.
For us, specifically, we have arteries that, once damaged, can lead to severe health problems. And when discussing diamonds, they feature cleavage patterns that are considered their weak points.
Once you decide to strike or apply pressure on one of those weak spots – you’ll successfully crush the diamond. But with much less resistance and far more finesse than before.
So, the next time you decide to crush one of your diamonds – again, for whatever reason – remember to search for one of their cleavage patterns. Some can be seen with the naked eye. But most of them will require you to use a high-tech microscope.
One thing to remember: There are several cases where people had an unfortunate experience with one of their diamonds. As soon as they accidentally hit it, the stone was crushed into small pieces.
Why did that happen?
If you directly hit a diamond on one of its weak spots, regardless of you knowing about cleavage patterns, you might crush your diamond. And because of that, you must take care of your diamonds at all times.
They are certainly tough. But not as tough as you expect them to be!
Summary
“Diamonds are forever” – we can pretty much guarantee that you’ve heard that term at least dozens of times throughout your life. To this day, we couldn’t agree more with that statement.
But, there are some situations where that “forever” might not be – well, forever. You see, if you accidentally hit a diamond in the right (or, instead, wrong) spot, you might find yourself searching for a new diamond sooner than you expect.
These days, the Internet is filled with both worthless and valuable pieces of information. While browsing, we noticed that there isn’t much info on the matter of can diamond be crushed or not.
And we hope we managed to provide you with some answers.
As it’s pretty apparent by now – all diamonds can be crushed, especially if you know a thing or two about diamonds’ cleavage patterns.
Even if you don’t know that much about diamonds’ weak points, you don’t need to stress that much. As long as you keep your diamonds from harm’s way, you’ll have your shiny best friend for life.
On the other hand, if you place a diamond under a hydraulic press, you might as well say goodbye to it. No diamond can withstand the pressure of a high-tech hydraulic press.
Diamonds are crushable – and sometimes it takes a small amount of pressure to achieve that!
