Scientists GROW diamonds in just 150 minutes that could cost $2,000 less than ... trends now
Scientists can now produce cost-effective, lab-grown diamonds in just 150 minutes that look identical to a natural diamond.
Researchers from the Republic of Korea have created tiny diamonds that could offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to natural diamonds.
The researchers combined silicon and a series of liquidized metals with carbon gasses under extreme temperatures that reduced them to carbon atoms that merged with the silicon to create the diamond.
In the US, a one-carat princess-cut diamond would cost an average of $2,500, whereas the lab-grown equivalent costs just $500.
Diamonds take billions of years to fully form, making them more expensive for buyers, but the lab-grown alternative can save you thousands of dollars. Can YOU tell the difference?
Lab-grown diamonds don't look any different from natural diamonds to the naked eye, but because the differences can be seen clearly through a microscope, it makes them a cheaper alternative
Researchers mixed liquid gallium, iron, nickel and silicon into a crucible - a cup-shaped vessel used to melt substances - and heated it to 1,877 degrees Fahrenheit. The combination of the melted metals and the gasses, combined with silicon, created small crystals
Diamonds take billions of years to fully form, making them more expensive for buyers, but the lab-grown alternative can save you thousands of dollars.
To the naked eye, lab-grown diamonds don't look any different than the natural alternative, but they do look drastically different under a microscope, which is why there is such a large gap in the price.
The researchers mixed liquid gallium, iron, nickel and silicon into a crucible - a cup-shaped vessel used to melt substances - and heated it to 1,877 degrees Fahrenheit.
The metals in the crucible were exposed to methane and hydrogen gasses which dissolved into carbon gas.
When the remaining carbon gas merged with the silicon, it forced the carbon atoms to bond together, creating small crystals.
The study's co-author Rodney Ruoff said that the silicon was the key to success, telling Science: 'If we don't add some silicon, we don't get diamond.'
Ruoff and his team tested growing the crystal's growth at 15 and 30 minutes, but found that there was only a small portion of the diamond crystal projecting out of the metal surface in the crucible.
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