Cremation Diamonds

[Deleted]

Came across this topic on the Opalholic board: Cremation Diamond Report

It might sound like a nice idea, but the science behind it doesn't hold up. To sum up: little or no carbon remains after the cremation process. The temperatures are too high, and any carbon available for making a diamond burns up during the cremation process. When challenged, the people running cremation diamond companies recommended that the body be partially cremated, though no mortuaries offer this service (and is probably illegal in some places - the whole point of cremation is lost if the body is only partly burned). Anyway, I thought it would be of interest, as we've probably all heard about this.

[vegasjames]

These have been around for quite a while and I have always questioned this anyway because when you check the site you can choose the color of the diamond you want to begin with. Problem with this is that the color of a diamond is determined by either impurities in the diamond or vacancies in the atomic structure. The body has so many minerals and other compounds that could affect the coloring even if there was sufficient carbon left that there would be no way to control the color that would be achieved. The second problem is that when you look at samples they are too perfect. Same problem. With all the impurities that would be present in the ashes even if they started with their own graphite, required for diamond formation, the diamonds would look like crap, not perfect.

[mohs]

Don’t know enough about the chemical composition of the body
To know if heat & pressure can diamonize it

but This is what I hope archeologist find of my remains


Besides just some gray matter in coal
mostly

[vegasjames]

Coal does not form in to diamonds except with Superman in Hollywood. Diamonds form naturally from graphite.

[mohs]

intersting
my brain ought to diamonytizt



cause my head full of Lead

m stly

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2018 18:58:10 GMT -5 vegasjames said:

These have been around for quite a while and I have always questioned this anyway because when you check the site you can choose the color of the diamond you want to begin with. Problem with this is that the color of a diamond is determined by either impurities in the diamond or vacancies in the atomic structure. The body has so many minerals and other compounds that could affect the coloring even if there was sufficient carbon left that there would be no way to control the color that would be achieved. The second problem is that when you look at samples they are too perfect. Same problem. With all the impurities that would be present in the ashes even if they started with their own graphite, required for diamond formation, the diamonds would look like crap, not perfect.

Yes, I believe you are correct: just lab-grown diamond with nothing (or so extremely limited as to be undetectable) from the deceased.

[parfive]

Meanwhile, four rows down the table . . .

    

        Gold crowns . . .

        

                and they ain’t gonna make it into your paint can.     : )

[mohs]

the lady wants to be sure that all that glitters is gold



Now you guys have me researching

How about encasing ash in glass ?

[Fossilman]

Think I'll pass, just throw me into the winds of the mountains....

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2018 8:51:19 GMT -5 mohs said:

How about encasing ash in glass ?

That'd work!

[mohs]

the answer my friend is blowing in the wind

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2018 12:20:27 GMT -5 mohs said:

the answer my friend is blowing in the wind

[mohs]

exccellllent!

[NRG]

Feb 27, 2018 18:24:32 GMT -5 @rocks2dust said:

Came across this topic on the Opalholic board: Cremation Diamond Report

It might sound like a nice idea, but the science behind it doesn't hold up. To sum up: little or no carbon remains after the cremation process. The temperatures are too high, and any carbon available for making a diamond burns up during the cremation process. When challenged, the people running cremation diamond companies recommended that the body be partially cremated, though no mortuaries offer this service (and is probably illegal in some places - the whole point of cremation is lost if the body is only partly burned). Anyway, I thought it would be of interest, as we've probably all heard about this.

I am not defending them at all, but we must be sure of our own science before denigrating a business.

I have the cremains of a deceased friend in my home. You would be surprised at the amount of carbon in there. In a oxygen free zone some of the carbon remains unconverted. At crematory temps, very little atmospheric air expansion of the hot gases leave very little behind.

as for colors and impurities, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to purify out any metals remaining in the ash.

now, I have to go research what colors they offer. Are they actually making diamonds or are they reselling them? Do they come already cut? Wierd concept to my feeble mind.

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2018 16:34:56 GMT -5 NRG said:

I am not defending them at all, but we must be sure of our own science before denigrating a business.

I have the cremains of a deceased friend in my home. You would be surprised at the amount of carbon in there. In a oxygen free zone some of the carbon remains unconverted. At crematory temps, very little atmospheric air expansion of the hot gases leave very little behind.

as for colors and impurities, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to purify out any metals remaining in the ash.

now, I have to go research what colors they offer. Are they actually making diamonds or are they reselling them? Do they come already cut? Wierd concept to my feeble mind.

I've also had and scattered cremains and am curious as to how you know that yours contained detectable amounts of carbon? From what I've observed, the only material left was crushed, calcined/incinerated bone (aka, the "ashes") likely with some various oxides. This has long been known even from ancient cremated remains, where temps were likely lower than modern methods. Even the apatite in teeth loses its carbon (sometimes partially replaced by carbon from the fuel in a low-temperature, damp burn). Any carbon traces remaining would likely not be from the human remains, but left-over hydrocarbon in the chamber after shutoff or reabsorbed later from the atmosphere (which makes carbon-dating of cremated remains unreliable).

If you read the article in the link above, some of the "cremation diamond" manufacturers acknowledge this in their fine print and patents, stating that they add carbon from other sources when growing the synthetic diamond (and/or that the remains must be only partially cremated in order to have the possibility of extracting any carbon to include with the carbon added to synthesize the crystal).

[NRG]

@rocks2dust

I know there is carbon because of the black hunks of material in there. It looks like charcoal. Probably char-bone.....

Yes, much of it is calcined bone. But many hunks throughout are black like a charred item should be.

[Deleted]

Bits of black, dark gray and brown-black can be residue from things other than carbon (iron oxide, salts, silver oxide from dental or surgical work, trace elements from the body and so forth) that can coat nearby bone. At cremation temps of 800°C+, any carbon quickly burns away and what remains are calcined bone (basically calcium phosphate) and traces of oxides, rather than carbon. Carbonized bone would only occur in oxygen-starved environments (such as might be found in a wooden open-air pyre or low-temp incomplete cremation), which modern crematoria are built to avoid.

[parfive]

Holy crap . . . gold record in ’68     : )

[mohs]

Ha ah Arthur Brown almost cremated the whole auditorium
w/ that crazy torch on his head
It rocked !

[parfive]

Just like my Jøtul’s supposed to work . . .

The primary chamber has brick-lined walls, and a floor and roof made of high heat refractory concrete. A burner descends from the roof and heats the chamber to about 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, enough to break down a body into gas and bone fragments.

The resulting gases and particulates travel into the after-chamber, a 30-foot maze designed to retain the gases for about two seconds. The after-chamber subjects the gases to a temperature of 1,700 degrees F to make sure the particles and odor are negligible before everything goes up the stack and out into the atmosphere. Gamage says you can think of the secondary chamber like the catalytic converter on an old car, which neutralizes the emissions of the exhaust system.



www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a18923323/cremation/