Diamonds can be made from peanut butter

                          
Diamonds can be made from peanut butter

As we were taught in grade-school science class, diamonds are made of pure carbon, formed deep in the earth under intense heat and high pressure. Peanuts also have a very high carbon content, and now scientists have proven that it is possible to turn everyday peanut butter into diamonds.

The experts at the Centre for Science and Extreme Conditions at Edinburgh University have been able to simulate the conditions it takes to make a diamond - which is no easy feat. The pressure must be maintained at 45 to 60 kilobars (nearly 1 million pounds per square inch) and the heat between 1,600 to 2,370 degrees Fahrenheit.

Turning peanut butter into diamonds is done by pushing the peanut butter between the tips of two diamonds. Since a diamond is the hardest substance on Earth, it has the ability to create the intense pressure need to allow the carbon bonds in the peanut butter to break down and reform as a diamond. Although these peanut-butter creations are technically diamonds (pure carbon forms), they are have a greenish or yellowish tinge to them, so they are easily distinguished from real diamonds. But the peanut butter diamonds are proof that materials containing carbon can be turned into this dazzling gem.