I always must be “that guy” so… aCTualLy…
1. You can break a diamond with a hammer blow, you can even break a diamond like in a ring by accidentally hitting your hand on something! That first method is a bit tricky- diamond has a crystalline structure and has something called a “shear plane.” When struck on the sheer plane with sufficient force it will split along the plane. That said- the tensile strength of man made materials like those commonly used in tools like tungsten alloys is much higher than most diamonds and can and will break them or damage them. In fact, owners of diamond jewelry know that over time even “gentle” every day wear such as rings requires periodic repair or refinishing because the diamond looses “sparkle” (primarily an effect of tiny scratches and erosion of precise cuts and polish) or picks up noticeable blemishes. Compared to a softer “gem” like cubic zirconia the diamond resists common damage like scratches better however.
3. Diamond is hard- one of the hardest known materials in nature and certainly one of the hardest “gems.” Hardness is the ability to resist localized deformation or scratches/cuts. Toughness is another aspect of durability which refers to a materials ability to withstand breaking force. Rubber like that of a balloon tends to be tough but not hard. It can easily be cut or punctured and light pressure or even gravity can deform its shape, but hitting an empty balloon with a hammer is unlikely to cause it to shatter or even necessarily hurt it unless the hammer cuts in to the material somehow. This is part of why diamonds tend to be used in many cutting tools like drill bits or saw blades, especially where “high shock” is not generally anticipated as opposed to diamonds being used for things like driver tips or wrenches and hammers.
Diamonds, very pure ones, have certain superior optical properties for light transmission. This is part of their beauty as well as their usefulness in optics like lasers and such. Because they are hard, they can be given a precise shape and that shape should see little deflection and thus little distortion. If you imagine making binoculars using clear Gelatin as the lens, it would be very difficult to get a highly precise shape and polished grind to the lens because of how soft gelatin is. Your lens would also be easily distorted by vibration and other physical factors not to mention. Likely just gravity causing it to distort. This of course would impact the fidelity and consistency of the image through the lens. So a gigantic space telescope lens or a tiny precision laser lens for a lab may be diamond- it probably won’t see a life of rough conditions. Something requiring some level of precision but subjected to tough conditions like certain construction measuring equipment or even…
.. some optics for combat might use specialized glass or perhaps even a polymer (plastic) lens that is deemed hard enough for the task but tough enough. Materials science is fun.
@guest_ As always, thanks for educating the lazy rest of us but I'm somewhat disappointed: Am I the only one who stumbled over referring to diamonds as "the hardest metal"? Cheers
2
deleted
· 1 year ago
Ikr? I thought that was more embarrassing than not knowing about the metric system when you never use it.
@ctrl_alt_del- thank you lol. I did notice that but just left it out similar to the 1 gram = 15grams I figured I had enough to move through. But it did irk me to not mention so I thank you for bringing it up.
1. You can break a diamond with a hammer blow, you can even break a diamond like in a ring by accidentally hitting your hand on something! That first method is a bit tricky- diamond has a crystalline structure and has something called a “shear plane.” When struck on the sheer plane with sufficient force it will split along the plane. That said- the tensile strength of man made materials like those commonly used in tools like tungsten alloys is much higher than most diamonds and can and will break them or damage them. In fact, owners of diamond jewelry know that over time even “gentle” every day wear such as rings requires periodic repair or refinishing because the diamond looses “sparkle” (primarily an effect of tiny scratches and erosion of precise cuts and polish) or picks up noticeable blemishes. Compared to a softer “gem” like cubic zirconia the diamond resists common damage like scratches better however.