This week I'm doing my weekly post on the difference between graphite and diamond. Technically, these two minerals are both made out of carbon, but clearly they are so different because whereas you cannot brake a diamond, graphite is super easy to brake even with just our fingers. The reason that graphite is extremely easy to brake and the reason that we can write with it using mechanical pencils is because the layers of graphite are extremely strong, technically as strong as diamonds, but the layers are not strongly bonded to each other so when you are breaking graphite, your really only breaking it down into layers. The reason that diamonds are a lot stronger than graphite is because diamonds are not bonded in layers. Every diamond carbon atom is bonded very close to the other one which means that you cannot brake it off into layers. This is why diamond is the strongest substances known to mankind. Carbon has the strongest covalent bond of any element so because diamonds are all covalent bonds that is why they are the strongest mineral.
This is so cool!! Its like all chemistry, but you can really see it in these minerals! Especially because there is such a drastic different between graphite and diamond.
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