This Planet Is Now Diamonds!

[soren7550]

Yep, while checking my email, I saw this:
http://news.yahoo.com/astronomers-discover-planet-made-diamond-180427124.html

So if you're too lazy to click on the link and skim the article, the fat skinny is that the planet is made of carbon and because it's so dense, scientist theorize that the carbon would have been made into diamonds.

Spoiler: Oh, and you know this is true

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Let's say that we arrange a voyage to retrieve a shuttle full of diamonds, wouldn't that hurt the diamonds' overall value?

Sure people would still buy products involving diamonds, but i'd guess they'd have some sort of price drop due to diamonds not being as rare anymore.

Unless of course these diamonds are special space diamonds that can harness sunlight to fire laser beams or whatever.

 

[soren7550]

Let's say that we arrange a voyage to retrieve a shuttle full of diamonds, wouldn't that hurt the diamonds' overall value?

Sure people would still buy products involving diamonds, but i'd guess they'd have some sort of price drop due to diamonds not being as rare anymore.

Unless of course these diamonds are special space diamonds that can harness sunlight to fire laser beams or whatever.

My boyfriend asked the same thing, but the fact that the planet is 4,000 light years away, it would to far too expensive to get them. I mean, it already cost far too much to send people just outside Earth's orbit. So, if anything, I think it would drive the price up since it would cost so much to harvest the space diamonds.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Let's say that we arrange a voyage to retrieve a shuttle full of diamonds, wouldn't that hurt the diamonds' overall value?

Sure people would still buy products involving diamonds, but i'd guess they'd have some sort of price drop due to diamonds not being as rare anymore.

Unless of course these diamonds are special space diamonds that can harness sunlight to fire laser beams or whatever.

My boyfriend asked the same thing, but the fact that the planet is 4,000 light years away, it would to far too expensive to get them. I mean, it already cost far too much to send people just outside Earth's orbit. So, if anything, I think it would drive the price up since it would cost so much to harvest the space diamonds.

I figured it would be something like that, but that brings me to something i don't really get with spatial research... Why don't we pick the places we want to go AFTER we invent the technology to actually get there? It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I know people are probably gonna want to tell me "But without goals why should we bother with the effort?" True enough, but we already have plenty of potential places, just not the means to get ANYwhere yet.

 

[penguindude42]

I just hope it isn't inhabited by silicone-based crystal golems or something like that.

But the Old Spice joke made me LOL irl.

~TOM<3

 

[walrusaurus]

Let's say that we arrange a voyage to retrieve a shuttle full of diamonds, wouldn't that hurt the diamonds' overall value?

Sure people would still buy products involving diamonds, but i'd guess they'd have some sort of price drop due to diamonds not being as rare anymore.

Unless of course these diamonds are special space diamonds that can harness sunlight to fire laser beams or whatever.

the dirty little secret with diamonds is that they really aren't all that rare. Rubies are far rarer. Diamonds are just very stricly supply controlled, and marketed.

 

[ccggenius12]

We can already manufacture artificial diamonds, they're used in power tools and construction equipment. Prices wouldn't dip if we somehow perfected Faster than Light transportation and harvested from the planet, because the people who did so would probably continue to keep diamonds artificially scarce. They are not exactly a rare gem stone, but because one company holds a monopoly on the supply, they set the stock, and the price.

On a more lighthearted note, I believe we should name the planet "Midnight", and invest all our scientific resources into getting there and establishing a railroad. Because I want to ride a train on a diamond planet called Midnight. Cookie for reference.

I know people are probably gonna want to tell me "But without goals why should we bother with the effort?" True enough, but we already have plenty of potential places, just not the means to get ANYwhere yet.

Because improved telescopes and unmanned spacecraft are far less expensive and far more real than faster than light travel?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Yeah, I was thinking, you can already have your dead relatives made into diamonds, by cremating them, then compressing the carbon ash into diamond.

I imagine it'd be more likely they refine the process until it's cheap to knock out a bunch of diamonds from old off cuts of wood rather than bother mining a distant planet.

Diamonds have the use of being the hardest thing in the world, so are needed in cutting tools etc, but I would think if the market was flooded, they'd be nearer the price of good quality silicon used in memory rather than the price of a gem in a wedding ring.

 

[Bloedhoest]

I have a theory.
Drill bits used to drill for oil use diamonds to create a cutting edge. What if we retrieve the planet, make a drill bit out of it and drill for all the oil in the world in one go!

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

My girlfriend just found this on time.com in the science bit. She told me about it and my first thought was "fuck off, no way"

 

[Aeshi]

So would that mean that the planet is one giant mass of diamond with a red-hot glowing molten core?

Because that would be truly spectacular to look at

 

[AstylahAthrys]

That would be incredible to look at. I actually prefer sapphires, but a gigantic planet made of diamonds would be a wonderful sight to see.

 

[soren7550]

I think it's a bit funny that so many people that posted here have My Little Pony pics.

But the Old Spice joke made me LOL irl.

~TOM<3

Happy to do so.

The planet is now diamonds! Anything is possible when your planet smells like Old Spice and not a lady. I'm on a horse.

Man, I wish I thought of that!

 

[CODE-D]

Now we just need an oil planet.

 

[kyuzo3567]

On a more lighthearted note, I believe we should name the planet "Midnight", and invest all our scientific resources into getting there and establishing a railroad. Because I want to ride a train on a diamond planet called Midnight. Cookie for reference.

Doctor Who?

 

[John the Gamer]

Well, since diamonds are supposed to be a great material for making computers with (electricity/heat conduction) we could turn the planet into a computer to find out what the meaning of life is. Lol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_diamond#Applications

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

We already have a shitload of diamonds on earth, it's just that De Beers controls how much is sold making them cost a lot more than they're worth.

monopoly is bad, kids.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

Whoops, I accidentally everything

 

[ShindoL Shill]

first person to propose using this planet wins all the marital sex ever.

 

[Tiger Sora]

We already have a shitload of diamonds on earth, it's just that De Beers controls how much is sold making them cost a lot more than they're worth.

monopoly is bad, kids.

Though that may be true many diamonds arn't good enough to be used in jewelry. Most mined are industrial diamonds. They're cheap.