Monday, May 5, 2008

The Diamond Alchemist

In my past life I was an alchemist. I tried to solve the world's problems using a metallic petri dish, a power supply and some compressed carbon gas.

Gone are the days when alchemists used to transmute gold from lead. I made diamond from thin air.

Run a large amount of current on a specific amount of carbon gas inside an air-tight vault and shout; "Let there be light!" And there will be light.

This is a glow discharge plasma.




Suck all the air inside the vault to create a vacuum. You were told, "Diamonds form in extreme pressure." But with the use of alchemy, we only need patience.

Expose a thin silicon wafer in your glow discharge and let it stay there for 24 hours. And Voila! You got yourself a thin film of diamond on the silicon wafer's surface.

This is diamond.

...

(Dreamt 4 years ago; recalled Today)