Evening star., 1924-11-02
Inside the Diamond
Disclosed by Use of RAYS


ed like an elaborate net, extending in
all directions, with all the cords cut
away and only the knots left And
each Knot is in itself a complex dance
| of whirling forces.
SCIENCE has now provided a posi-
tive explanation of the marvels OF
our incredible, fantastic experience.
1t can tell US great deal about those
billions of struggling forces within
| the sparkling gem. 1t is perhaps the
untold energy, activity, desire, like
and dislike that goes on inside the
stone that causes it's uncanny CLEAN
to the human eye. But science eX
plains it this way:
Each pinwheel, or ballroom with its
onlookers. is in reality single atom
/ of carbon. A pure diamond crystal
consists entirely of such carbon atoms
and of nothing else. 1t is because
they are arranged with such beauti
full regularity and symmetry that the
diamond has such a bright and serene
ray.
Each carbon atom. in scientific
terms, is built up of two kinds OF
units. protons and electrons. Pro
tons are 1850 times as heavy as cleo
irons. We have called the protons tho
men" and the electrons the won
en-" In the center of the carbon atom
there is the nucleus, which we called
"the ballroom" consisting OF a bunch
of IL protons and electrons.
Revolving around this nucleus are an
inner ring of two electronS and an
outer ring of four electrons.
The dimensions of the atom Of car
bon are of an infinite. an awful
laid together in a row and counted
and measured, we would find that
limo of them about one foot long
would contain no less than 00.o00.
600, 900 of them. Moreover the re
volving electrons move with incred-
ible speed, probably about 1,4oo mile
per second. On the average, they ac-
complish 7,00o,000,0o0 revolution
around their orbits in the mi1lionth
part of a second. The speed Of thu
fastest airplane, the speed of rifle
bullet even, is practically standing
still compared to the speed of the tin!
units that go to make up the sub
stance of a diamond.
How were all these miraculous
things about the precious stone dis
covered by scientistsc Their discoN-
cry indeed represents two genera
tions of indefatigable labor and su-
rerhuman achievement on the part OF
Sir William Bragg and his son. Il
was only in 1913 that Sir William
made the great discovery upon which
the whole story of crystal structure
depends He found out three things:
First, that an examination OF a crys-
tai by light would tell us nothing
about the internal structures OF Its
molecules: it would only give us IT
formation about the outer ring oi
electrons. Second, that N-rays would
penetrate to the inner rings, light
them up and show us their nature
disposition and actions. Third, that
the rays thrown off by radium would
penetrate to the very nucleus of the
atom and tell US how il was built up.
The two scientists then started syS-
tematicalIy bombarding various kinds
of crystals. including the diamond
with N-rays and radium. All the data
were brought together in difficult ca
culations, which filled reams of paper
with figures and symbols.
The result of all this labor wa
the revelation of a new world. the
world of the infinitely small realm
more wonderful than the enchanted
Nles of ancient romance.