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The
Diamond-Just Another Rock?
A Message From the Spokesman for the Diamond Kingdom
We diamonds have a couple confessions to make. We are not
natural beauties and we are not forever.
Yes,
it's true. When people sec us lying in a stream or in a pile
of dirt, they usually think we're just another rock. We look
so ordinary. The first person that picked us up never dreamed
we could both serve him and dazzle him. As time passed by,
his descendants learned that we could cut any kind of rock
or metal, but nothing could cut us except another diamond,
so naturally we got drafted as saws, knives, and drills. Yes,
diamonds were used as tools long before they were cut as jewels.
We're
proud of the Taj Majal in India. Its intricate marble designs
were cut by diamond tools. We're equally proud to see how
indispensable we are to twentieth-century man. He uses us
to drill for oil and gas, to mine ores, to fashion gemstones,
to cut metal parts for ears, rockets, and farm machinery.
Dentists use us to drill teeth. Surgeons use us to cut bone
and tissue.
When man discovered that we diamonds can drill and cut better
than anything else, he only began to recognize our potential.
Outer space and defense programs now take advantage of our
ability to resist radiation, temperature, and chemical damage.
The electronics industry relies on us because not only can
we conduct heat as well as any metal, we are also good electrical
insulators. Think of us the next time you use a phone, a computer,
a refrigerator, a television, or an electric light. Is it
any wonder that General Electric and Japan's Sumitomo Electric
Industries have spent so much time and money learning to create
diamonds? Yes, man-made diamonds are now a reality.
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