更純凈更便宜! 英國(guó)實(shí)驗(yàn)室'種'出鉆石

Diamonds indistinguishable from the real thing have been grown by scientists at Cardiff University in the UK -- in a process which could undermine world gems markets.

近日，英國(guó)加的夫大學(xué)的科學(xué)家“種”出了與真品真假難辨的鉆石，這種工序會(huì)顛覆世界寶石市場(chǎng)。

The precious stones can be created in a matter of days in a breakthrough that could revolutionise the business -- or see the value of gemstones plummet.

這些珍貴的石頭在短短幾天內(nèi)就能創(chuàng)造出來(lái)，這可能會(huì)是一個(gè)徹底改變行業(yè)的突破性的進(jìn)展--或者可以使得寶石的價(jià)值暴跌。

And the raw ingredients to create the diamonds are widely available as they are just methane and hydrogen gas.

而制造這種鉆石的原料隨處可見(jiàn)，因?yàn)樗鼈冎皇羌淄楹蜌錃狻?/p>

The pioneering process is being championed by Professor Oliver Williams of Cardiff University, who made the discovery by making sheets into semi conductors.

這種開(kāi)創(chuàng)性工序受到了加的夫大學(xué)教授奧利夫·威廉姆斯的推崇，威廉姆斯通過(guò)將紙張制成半導(dǎo)體發(fā)現(xiàn)了這道工序。

Professor Williams starts his process by putting a small seed into a vacuum chamber. He then adds methane and hydrogen gas. Both substances are heated to 3,000 C.

威廉姆斯教授開(kāi)始先將一粒小“種子”放入真空室，再將被加熱至3000攝氏度的甲烷和氫氣注入其中。

The gases break up and carbon and methane are deposited on the seed diamond. The carbon then mimics the structure of a diamond.

這些氣體分解后，碳和甲烷沉積在種子鉆石上，之后碳會(huì)模擬鉆石的結(jié)構(gòu)。

"The grown diamonds are purer than anything you would see in nature. With the best growers, less than one atom in a trillion is an impurity," Williams said.

威廉姆斯稱(chēng)：“種出的鉆石的純度比人們?cè)谧匀唤缫?jiàn)過(guò)的任何物質(zhì)都高。最好的‘種植手’生產(chǎn)的鉆石，每一萬(wàn)億原子中只有一顆不純。”