A closer look
Jewelry companies have spent a century convincing you that diamonds are forever, but chemists know they are basically just overpriced coal. Because diamonds are entirely composed of densely packed carbon atoms, they are completely combustible. If you heat a diamond to around 1300 degrees Fahrenheit and supply it with liquid oxygen, it will ignite, burn with a spectacularly bright flame, and completely vanish, turning into nothing more than invisible carbon dioxide gas.






