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Diamond Chemical Formula

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What is the Chemical Formula of a Diamond?

Diamond is one of the most valuable gemstones on Earth with the chemical formula ‘C’. 

This element is a pure form (metastable allotrope) of carbon, just like graphite. Besides this, for a diamond to be a unique element, the molecules that make it up should have a varying number of protons than any other element on the periodic table. 

In a nutshell, it is just a form of carbon having various colours and properties, which will discuss here. We will have a look at what is the chemical formula for diamond as well.


What is the Chemical Formula for Diamond?

Diamond is a 3-D structure. It belongs to the category of native minerals. So do you what is the chemical formula of a diamond? If not, it’s quite simple, i.e., C. In addition to carbon, diamonds also contain defects.

Here, the most common elements or defects added to the diamond element are nitrogen, silicon, boron, hydrogen, and certain other metals and non-metals. 

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Though the presence of these doesn’t affect the chemical formula, however, their presence in significant proportions affects the physical and chemical behaviour of the diamond.

So, do you know what is the diamond formula? Well! The chemical and molecular formula of a diamond is C. 


What is the Chemical Formula for Diamond?

So, do you what is the chemical symbol for diamond? Well! The chemical symbol for the diamond is C. Here, C is a carbon atom, which associates with four other carbon atoms through covalent bonding to give out the diamond structure, which is as follows: 

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The above diamond structure belongs to a well-known “Cubic” crystal system.

                       

What is the Molecular Formula of Diamond?

It’s very simple, the molecular formula of a diamond is C. 

In the molecular structure of the diamond, each carbon atom is attached with four other carbon atoms tetrahedrally through a covalent bond.  These atoms are again linked with four carbons, which form a network. This network is cyclic.

The cyclic structure of diamond is: 

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Here, we notice that every carbon is sp\[^{3}\] hybridized and forms covalent bonds with four other carbon atoms at the edges of the tetrahedral structure.

Therefore, we confer that the diamond molecular formula is C because it consists of only four carbon atoms.


What is the Chemical Name of Diamond?

Do you know what is the crystal structure of a diamond? If not, let’s have a look at the same:

The crystal class of the below diamond crystal structure is hexoctahedral. In short, we denote it by an H-M symbol:

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The structure so formed displays a beautiful architecture that we can see below: 

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Everything element we study in chemistry has various properties, so does the diamond. Now, let’s discuss the diamond properties in a tabular format:


Diamond Properties


Parameters

Classification

What is the chemical name of diamond?

Repeating unit of C-atoms

Mechanical Property

Hardest on Mohs Scale and Vickers Scale

Formula Mass

12.01 g/mol

Colours available 

Typically yellow

Brown

Gray to colorless

Less frequently green, violet, blue, black, translucent white, pink, orange, purple, and red

Cyrstal System

Cubic 

Crystal Structure

Hexoctahedral

Crystal Habit

Octahedral

Diaphaneity

Transparent to subtransparent to translucent

Specific gravity

3.52 ± 0.01

Density

3.5–3.53 g/cm3

Optical property

Isotropic

Melting Point

Depends on the pressure applied

Refractive Index

2.418 (recorded at a wavelength of 500 nm)

Luster

Adamantine

Streak

Colourless

Strunz classification

1.CB.10 a

Dana classification

1.3.6.1

Mohs Scale Hardness

10


Conclusion

Diamonds are homogeneous, native minerals. Diamonds are inorganic substances with definable chemical composition and an even internal arrangement of atoms. The crystal structure of a diamond is hexoctahedral, where each C is attached to the other four C-atoms linked together tetrahedrally.

FAQs on Diamond Chemical Formula

Q1: What is an Allotrope of Carbon?

Ans: The word allotrope alludes to two or more physical forms of a chemical substance that exist in a similar physical state. They show chemical and physical varieties. Both diamonds and graphite are known as the allotropes of carbon.

Q2: Describe the Crystal Structure of a Diamond.

Ans: The construction of a diamond is referred to as a diamond cubic. It has unit cells stacked together. 

There are around 18 atoms in its structure, each corner particle is shared by eight unit cells and every atom in the center of a face is shared by two, so there is an aggregate of eight particles for each unit cell, where each side is 3.57 angstroms long.

Q3: Where Did Diamonds Originally Come From?

Ans: The hardest characteristic diamond generally originated from the Copeton and Bingara fields situated in the New Britain region in New South Grains, Australia.