# A cure for global warming--diamond bricks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 3, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153 "2009-03-03T16:23:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/21 "2009-03-03T21:24:26Z")
Maybe I’m being whooshed, but if you want to remove CO2 from the air and turn it into building material, why not just plant some trees? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/22 "2009-03-03T21:27:56Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Maybe I’m being whooshed, but if you want to remove CO2 from the air and turn it into building material, why not just plant some trees? You’d have to have some place to put them, for one. And for another, most of the carbon in a tree ends up in the environment again. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/23 "2009-03-03T21:50:36Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > When was the last time significant progress was made toward fusion? It doesn’t seem like we’re terribly closer than we were 50 years ago. And with less funding, probably. These kinds of things don’t progress linearly, but rather in bursts. There could be a breakthrough tomorrow in material science, say, or in lasers, that’ll place fusion 5 years in the future. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/24 "2009-03-03T21:51:43Z")
[QUOTE=The Tao’s Revenge;10899760 What happens when a diamond building catches on fire?[/QUOTE] Eons ago in my thermodynamics class/book something struck me even then. Scientist BURNED diamonds to measure some fundamental values. Can you imagine writing up the budget request for that? Hell, today with all the outrage by “common folk” over science and engineering isuues they don’t have a fracking clue about, you probably couldnt even get the experiment funded. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/25 "2009-03-03T21:54:36Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > You’d have to have some place to put them, for one. And for another, most of the carbon in a tree ends up in the environment again. I am tired of these muther fucking trees in this muther fucking forest 🙂 Trees on a Plain. Coming to a theater near you! Staring Samuel (lumber) Jack son ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/26 "2009-03-03T22:11:38Z")
Along these lines, and the recycling good or bad thread, I have often wondered if we should be recycling paper at all. If it stays stable in landfills for hundreds of years, and it mostly comes from farmed or quick growing trees, it almost seems it would be better to bury paper than reuse it. Jonathan ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/27 "2009-03-03T22:16:03Z")
> [@Strassia](#): > > I was actually thinking about this a while ago. For this to work we need three things: > \ > 3. What to do with all the diamonds. Ah, just let the deBeers marketing guys kick it around for a while. I bet they’ll come up with something good. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/28 "2009-03-03T22:34:12Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > But here’s an idea I expressed in another thread: Grow plants which take CO2 ot of the atmosphere, then grind the plants up into sludge, then bury the sludge under some remote desert Snap, but I had thought of burying (or just piling) them somewhere cold so that bacteria can’t break them down and release the carbon. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/29 "2009-03-03T23:17:56Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Snap, but I had thought of burying (or just piling) them somewhere cold so that bacteria can’t break them down and release the carbon. I think Alaska would be okay. Texas might not be so bad either. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/30 "2009-03-03T23:19:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Scientist BURNED diamonds to measure some fundamental values. > > Can you imagine writing up the budget request for that? Sure, why not? It’s not like it’s a precious gemstone like sapphire or something. Compare to the mirrors in the Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors, which are planned to each be a 40 kg flawless single crystal of sapphire. And that’s considered one of the _easier_ challenges involved in building the thing. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/31 "2009-03-03T23:34:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Sure, why not? . I am talking about the PR aspect of it. Can’t you see it now on FOX? Crazy Scientists want to burn diamonds…with taxpayers dollars! ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/32 "2009-03-03T23:55:41Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Ah, just let the deBeers marketing guys kick it around for a while. I bet they’ll come up with something good. Yeah, they’d spend billions on a global smear campaign, denouncing the CO[sub]2[/sub] diamonds as inferior, cheap imitations that cannot possibly compare to _their_ diamonds. De Beers would only promote CO[sub]2[/sub] diamonds if they were given a monopoly on those, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/33 "2009-03-04T02:30:09Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Also, there’s no way an industrial process like that is gonna capture the 27 billion tons of carbon we pump into the air every year. How much energy would that take? How would we distribute and use the bricks? The Empire State Building supposedly weighs 365,000 tons, so you’d have 74 thousand Empire State Buildings worth of bricks every year. We could ship them all to Africa so the natives could make huts with em 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kaboodle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kaboodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaboodle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/34 "2009-03-04T03:46:45Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > When was the last time significant progress was made toward fusion? It doesn’t seem like we’re terribly closer than we were 50 years ago. And with less funding, probably. It depends on what you mean by significant progress. Do you know about [ITER](http://www.iter.org/)? > [@www.iter.org](#): > > ITER is a joint international research and development project that aims to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power. The partners in the project - the ITER Parties - are the European Union (represented by EURATOM), Japan, the People´s Republic of China, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA. ITER will be constructed in Europe, at Cadarache in the South of France. A lot of the stuff on that site is old but it appears that they are doing “Earth work and levelling” right now so they’re still preparing for construction. According to their schedule, they won’t create their first plasma until 2016. As for breakthroughs, Korea just developed some [innovative magnets](http://www.iter.org/newsline/issues/current/71_kstar.pdf) WARNING PDF! The link is to a Feb. 20 article in Science magazine. > [@Science Magazine](#): > > KSTAR’s biggest advantage is its superconducting coils, which will enable it to confine plasmas for up to 300 seconds, compared with the 20 or so seconds of older tokamaks. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/35 "2009-03-04T04:07:39Z")
> [@Kaboodle](#): > > Do you know about [ITER](http://www.iter.org/)? I’m going completely off memory here - I’ll look it up later but I don’t have much time atm. Is that the program that was created off-the-cuff in a meeting between Reagan and Gorbechev back in the '80s that has been one big farce, money-pit and embarassment plagued with one false-start after another over the years? I think they argued for at least a decade about where to build the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Kaboodle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kaboodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaboodle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/36 "2009-03-04T05:35:02Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I’m going completely off memory here - I’ll look it up later but I don’t have much time atm. Is that the program that was created off-the-cuff in a meeting between Reagan and Gorbechev back in the '80s that has been one big farce, money-pit and embarassment plagued with one false-start after another over the years? I think they argued for at least a decade about where to build the thing. That could very well be true. ITER could be the nuclear eqivalent of a ponzi scheme for all I know. I want them to succeed and I hadn’t heard/read and independent news stories so I didn’t go searching on my own. I’ll have to look into it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/37 "2009-03-04T07:03:03Z")
> [@](#): > > I am talking about the PR aspect of it. > > Can’t you see it now on FOX? > > Crazy Scientists want to burn diamonds…with taxpayers dollars! Eh, that sort of thing is fairly routine in science. I’m sure you could find something equivalent that’s going on right now. In fact, I can see right now on FOX “Crazy scientists want to monitor volcanoes with taxpayers’ dollars!”. But for the most part, the media doesn’t bother with it, because it’s not really interesting. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/38 "2009-03-04T07:57:55Z")
[QUOTE=Strassia] The cheapest way to produce diamonds makes dust. That market is probably already saturated, but we could just bury it if we are trying to lower CO2 levels. [/QUOTE] Oh, I eagerly await the skin-flaying diamond-duststorms that are sure to result from producing that much diamond dust. Silicon is bad enough, and it’s only 100 vs diamond’s 1600, absolute hardness. The best ways to take CO[sub]2[/sub] out of the atmosphere are increased area under forestation/planting, reversing desertification, and increased reefbuilding. I don’t think much research has gone into methods for the last, maybe that’s something that could be looked at - maybe GE new super-reefbuilding organisms? ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/39 "2009-03-04T13:33:55Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Scientist BURNED diamonds to measure some fundamental values. > > Can you imagine writing up the budget request for that? Less than $100. Two examples: [http://wardsci.com/product.asp\_Q\_pn\_E\_IG0004394\_A\_name\_E\_Diamond+Mineral+Specimen](http://wardsci.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_IG0004394_A_name_E_Diamond+Mineral+Specimen) [http://wardsci.com/product.asp\_Q\_pn\_E\_IG0004558\_A\_name\_E\_Diamond+Crystal+Specimen](http://wardsci.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_IG0004558_A_name_E_Diamond+Crystal+Specimen) ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153/40 "2009-03-04T16:53:25Z")
If I recall correctly, diamond is valued as a semiconductor substrate because it has extreamly high thermal conductivity, yet is an electrical insulator (or at least a semiconductor). It is rare that you want a poor thermal insulator as a building material. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cure-for-global-warming-diamond-bricks/488153.md?page=3)