Can diamonds be melted?

Diamonds convey the idea of ​​eternity thanks to their incredible strength, which has placed the material at a level of respect and quality assurance. So much so that this type of gemstone is associated with elegance and love, being a classic present in engagement rings, after having been considered eternal, a few decades ago.

This type of material is considered the toughest on the planet and trying to melt it is a challenge, but some scientists have done this experiment a few years ago, you know that? To do this, we had to rely on a machine known as Machine Z, the largest X-ray generator in the world, located in Mexico. The idea was to melt a tiny pebble through the pressure caused by the machine - which could be 10 million times greater than the natural one at sea level.

A matter of physics

One of those responsible for handling the machine, Marcus Knudson, said in a statement published on the Live Sciense website that such pressure is extremely difficult to come by. To achieve this, the machine produces an electromagnetic field capable of emitting waves traveling at 34 kilometers per second.

This type of interaction causes what scientists call nuclear fusion, an event that increases the core weight of some elements, producing large amounts of energy. Nuclear fusion is still an event studied by scientists. So far, there is more property to talk about nuclear fission, which, instead of increasing the size of the nucleus, splits it in two.

This manipulation is quite potent and dangerous, but it promotes an absurd amount of energy capable of doing what until recently was considered impossible: melting a diamond.