Melting Diamond To A Puddle - Science a GoGo's Discussion Forums

Sandia's Z machine, by creating pressures more than 10 million times that of the atmosphere at sea level, has turned a diamond sheet into a pool of liquid.

Source and more at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061103104056.htm

Sure, why not use diamond laser fusion pellets. Gold wasn't, well, gold-plated enough. The next upgrade surely will be cubic boron nitride (5% improvement in inertial acceleration over diamond, and much bigger on the bucks).

Quote:

The waves were created by impacting the diamond with tiny plates hurled using Z's huge magnetic fields at about 20 times the speed of a rifle bullet.

CL-20 high explosive detonation velocity is Mach 24.7. An M16A2 semiautomatic rifle has muzzle velocity of Mach 2.48. Yeah, yer gonna need a bigger hammer.

Hey Guys,

Now that's something you don't see everyday. liquid carbon that is. Here's a link to the original release:

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2006/diamonds.html

There are several other interesting stories at this site.

Dr. R.