• Question: Could you take all the Carbon from the atmosphere and crush it into diamonds?! Then take all the Carbon produced from making the diamonds and turn that into diamonds?

    Asked by connorhoad to Andrew, Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 28 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Andrew Thomas

      Andrew Thomas answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      The problem is that the amount of energy you would need to put in would probably produce more Carbon than you took out of the atmosphere so you would be forever fighting a losing battle 🙁

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      I wish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      There are certainly scientists working on taking CO2, carbon dioxide, out of the atmosphere, but that part is still very hard, much less making diamonds out of the carbon. The process of making diamounds typically takes place deep within the earth because of the enormously HIGH pressures that are required to make these things! All this pressure basically squeezes carbon down into a crystalline form of a diamond.

      Scientists who are trying to take Co2 out of the atmosphere are trying to convert the Co2 to other things that can be removed from the atmosphere, or putting the Co2 under the ground for storage. There is a scientist at LSU who is trying to take C02 and water and – using what is called electrochemistry – turn that C02 and water back into fuel like methanol that can be used to fuel our cars and such! This is VERY useful, because it takes waste products and turns them back into fuel, and also potentially removes Co2 from the atmosphere. C02 is a greenhouse gas, meaning that too much C02 in the atmosphere is what is causing global warming today.

    • Photo: Gemma Staite

      Gemma Staite answered on 1 Jul 2012:

      I think if you could, someone would be very rich

    • Photo: SarahJayne Boulton

      SarahJayne Boulton answered on 1 Jul 2012:

      What Gem said!!

      The problem with carbon capture (as it’s called) at the minute is quite often it takes more energy than it saves, Like Andrew said, created more carbon than you trap.

      I work with electrochemistry, like as Paige mentioned in her answer, and the big challenge here is that you need electrical energy to drive the making of our new fuel. We’re working on it though!!

      As for diamonds – I think as far as ideas go – making something as rad as diamonds out of waste products is brilliant. You need to find a way to take a source of constant and renewable energy (so you’re not creating any more carbon) and a way to isolate the carbon dioxide from the other gases (some sort of molecular filter or trapper) and then channel your energy into high pressure crushing the gas. Like a wave driven carbon crusher or something?

      ….how’s about you get in the lab and sort this one for us, ey? 🙂

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