# Human Diamonds

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-diamonds/206871>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 11, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-diamonds/206871 "2003-10-11T18:13:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-diamonds/206871/1 "2003-10-11T18:13:04Z")

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The human body is mostly carbon, as are diamonds. If you could compress an average human body into a diamond, how big would it be? A carat? 1/1000 of a carat? Don’t know why, but I was just wondering…

TIA

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**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-diamonds/206871/2 "2003-10-11T19:02:31Z")

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The human body isn’t mostly carbon, it’s mostly water.

This link describes a company that claims to make diamonds from human remains:

[http://jewelry.about.com/library/weekly/aa110502a.htm](http://jewelry.about.com/library/weekly/aa110502a.htm)

The sizes in the article are 0.25 - 1.3 carats.

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-diamonds/206871/3 "2003-10-11T19:39:33Z")

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[http://www.tucsonshowguide.com/stories/sep03/lifegem.cfm](http://www.tucsonshowguide.com/stories/sep03/lifegem.cfm)

> [@](#):
>
> The carbon must be preserved during the cremation process. The challenge is that cremation has become very efficient in modern times. Little remains after the oven has done its work, but LifeGem has developed a method whereby the body’s carbon remains intact.
> 
> “You don’t really need much carbon for the process to be successful,” VandenBiesen says. “The average person will yield about 5 percent carbon, which is enough to produce roughly 50 diamonds.”

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**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-diamonds/206871/4 "2003-10-11T21:08:11Z")

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Fascinating! I did blunder about the mostly carbon thing, I KNEW it was mostly water. :smack: I’m surprised about the number of diamonds they get tho. I would have guessed that the amount of compression required would only yield a diamond chip or so. Not 50 diamonds. Thanks for the responses.