# Diamonds are forever?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-forever/361572>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-forever/361572 "2006-06-21T13:50:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-forever/361572/1 "2006-06-21T13:50:56Z")

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ORLY?

Do diamonds break down over time–apart from getting bashed about? Would a naturally occuring diamond get eroded by weather? How about nuclear decay? Would bonds between the carbons simply break or rearrange?

If a 1 ct. diamond were floating in space all by its lonesome, how long would it last before it was gone or at least 50% something other than diamond?

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-forever/361572/2 "2006-06-21T14:10:35Z")

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Hmm, good questions. I do know that diamonds _will_ burn, given fairly high temps.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-forever/361572/3 "2006-06-21T14:17:04Z")

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Diamonds are, of course, subject to some chemical and physical reactions: those few electronegative ions that can break the tight aliphatic carbon-carbon bond in a diamond will of course react with, damage and ultimately destroy a diamond. Heat a diamond in air or oxygen past its flash point for that gas, and it will combust. Heat a diamond in vacuum or an inert atmosphere past the melting point, and it will melt (IIRC it sublimes but that’s immaterial).

Probably a fresh-formed diamond has a trace amount of carbon-14 in it; as that breaks down, there will be a microscopic flaw at that point; if interior, trapping a nitrogen atom. The percentage of carbon-14 compared to carbon-12 and -13 is so small, however, that this would not significantly damage the gross macroscopic crystal. I’m not aware of any natural diamond-forming processes that have occurred recently enough to leave any diamonds with measurable amounts of C-14 left in them.

Finally, the diamond structure is metastable; over geologic time, it turns to graphite. But this is not a significant consideration unless you have a few billion years to spare to observe the process.

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-forever/361572/4 "2006-06-21T15:05:26Z")

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[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya]  
If a 1 ct. diamond were floating in space all by its lonesome, how long would it last before it was gone or at least 50% something other than diamond?  
[/QUOTE]

[Erosion of Pioneer 10 and 11:](http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Erosional processes in the interstellar environment are largely unknown, but are very likely less efficient than erosion within the solar system, where a characteristic erosion rate, due largely to micrometeoritic pitting, is of the order of 1 Angstrom/yr. Thus a plate etched to a depth ~ 0.01 cm should survive recognizable at least to as distance ~ 10 parsecs, and most probably to 100 parsecs. Accordingly, Pioneer 10 and any etched metal message aboard it are likely to survive for much longer periods than any of the works of Man on Earth.