| Inorganic_Courses_from_the_West_Indies Including course information on coordination numbers, geometry and a start on Interpretation of spectra. |
| Inorganic_Reaction_Mechanisms Notes about inorganic reaction mechanisms, including an introduction to kinetics and mechanism, substitution reactions, sis and trans effects, trans influence, anation and solvolysis reactions, and el |
| Inorganic_Reaction_Mechanisms_I WWW resources for a course given by Dermot O'Hare at Oxford, UK. |
| Inorganic_Syntheses Summary of The Inorganic Syntheses series published by John Wiley And Sons. Published to provide all users of inorganic substances with detailed and foolproof procedures for the preparation of importa |
| Institut_für_Theoretische_Physik_der_Universität Quasicrystals and Symmetry, a technical discussion about quasicrystals. |
| Introduction_to_Non-Metal_Chemistry WWW resources for a course given by Dermot O'Hare at Oxford, UK. Chemistry of boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and the halogens. |
| Kaboom! Information about some of the important elements in the construction of fireworks. |
| Lawrence_Berkeley_National_Laboratory__Particle_Adventure The fundamentals of matter and forces. |
| Marz_Kreations_Chemistry_Page An online database of experiments done by a teenager. Non-professional but instructive with many experimental examples. Hobby oriented presentation. |
| Molecular_Models Rendering techniques with many examples of inorganic compounds. |
| Organometallic_Mechanisms Lectures on Organometallic Reactions. |
| Quantitative_analysis_of_mercury,_silver,_tin,_copper_and_zinc_in_dental_amalgam The percentages of mercury, silver, tin, copper and zinc left in dental amalgam after being in vivo for 9+ years are measured and faraday's law is used to compute the release of mercury from dental am |
| Quasicrystal_Research_at_Iowa_State_University_and_Ames_Laboratory Background information and scope of quasicrystal research at Iowa State and Aims Laboratory. |
| Quasicrystals_Page Explanation, pictures, and wallpaper of these unusual structures. |
| Quia_-_Java_Games Learn the elements and their symbols using Java. |
| Selected_Classic_Papers_from_the_History_of_Chemistry Including many for early to present atomic hypothesis and the discrete nature of matter. |
| Structure_and_Isomerism_of_Coordination_Compounds A guide to important introductory concepts of inorganic chemistry. By John Nash (Purdue University, USA). |
| TIS__Cotton,_F__Albert_et_al__-_Advanced_Inorganic_Chemistry WILEY-VCH Title: Cotton, F. Albert et al.: Advanced Inorganic Chemistry. Probably the most fundamental and authoritative book on the subject. |
| University_of_Idaho__Crookes_Tube The Crookes Tube and related experiments used to first determine charge to mass ratio of the electron. |
| Viselements A visual intrepretation of the table of elements. |
| Water_Structure_and_Behavior A scientific description of water, including anomalies in water, the molecule and its bonding properties. |
| Brendan\'s_Page_for_the_Lighting_Designers A collection of links and related information about theater lighting. |
| DMX512 Technical information about the bus system for show lighting with software download. |
| Don_Klipstein\'s_Lighting_Info Information and links on various types of light sources and the technology that makes them work. |
| Light_and_Energy_Learning_Unit Gives historic background, quality of lighting, energy, design techniques, and spectral power distribution curves. |
| Lightboard_Net Job board for the lighting industry. Page also includes new new product development news. |
| Lighting_Design_in_Offices A study about office lighting schemes. Presents several different solutions and offers an online tool to compare them systematically. |
| Lighting_Design_Lab A energy efficient lighting design resource for the northwest of the U.S., sponsored by Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. Offers training classes, demonstrations, consultations, and related servic |
| Lighting_the_Way A project at the Smithsonian Institution to gather materials about the history of electric lighting during the past 30 years. |
| The_Lighting_Wiki A collaborative online environment where visitors can share information such as lighting tips, explanations of specific terminology, and comments on related software. |
| LightLab_Online Optics and radiometry services, photometric and thermal tests. Products include laboratory equipment, instrumentation and software for the lighting industry. |
| National_Lighting_Product_Information_Program The NLPIP offers information on lighting products, combined from test results obtained by NLPIP and data obtained from lighting manufacturers cataloges. |
| National_Research_Council_Institute_-_Lighting_Research One of the main construction research agencies in Canada presents research results about lighting quality and full-spectrum lighting. |
| Professional_Lighting_Resources Featuring a history of light and lighting and a technical library. |
| Pro-Light_News Articles and industry news about lighting, primarily related to studio, stage, and disco applications. |
| Shiftwork_Systems,_Inc_ Circadian Lighting Systems utilize biological principles developed at Harvard University to provide physiological adaptation to night work. |
| Sprags_com Explaining the purpose and function of lighting dimmers, information supplied by Futronix. |
| Streetlighting General information on poles, controls and lamps used in streetlighting. |
| West_Wales_Street_Lighting A pictorial record of the street lighting in South West Wales, with an emphasis on low pressure sodium (SOX) lanterns. |
| Astronomy_161__The_Planet_Jupiter General features and some pictures. |
Diamond
If you have a plug-in for Netscape 2+ which allows you to view embedded molecules, there is an alternative version of this page. If you wish to obtain the appropriate plug-in, see the main MOTM home page. There is also a Chemsymphony version of this page which requires a Java-aware browser.
Diamond lattice Graphite lattice For instructions on how to view these 3D .pdb files, see the MOTM home page. Alternative versions of this page are a Chime-enhanced page (requires the Chime plug-in) and a Chemsympony page (requires a Java-aware browser).Diamond and GraphiteDiamond is composed of the single element carbon, and it is the arrangement of the C atoms in the lattice that give diamond its amazing properties. Compare the structure of diamond and graphite, both composed of just carbon. In diamond we have the hardest known material, in graphite we have one of the softest, simply by rearranging the way the atoms are bonded together.The relationship between diamond and graphite is a thermodynamic and kinetic one, as can be seen in the phase diagram for carbon. At normal temperatures and pressures, graphite is only a few eV more stable than diamond, and the fact that diamond exists at all is due to the very large activation barrier for conversion between the two. There is no easy mechanism to convert between the two and so interconversion requires almost as much energy as destroying the entire lattice and rebuilding it. Once diamond is formed, therefore, it cannot reconvert back to graphite because the barrier is too high. So diamond is said to be metastable, since it is kinetically stable, not thermodynamically stable. Diamond is created deep underground under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature. Under these conditions diamond is actually the more stable of the two forms of carbon, and so over a period of millions of years carbonaceous deposits slowly crystallise into single crystal diamond gemstones.Natural diamondsNatural diamonds are classified by the type and level of impurities found within them.Type Ia diamond - Most natural diamonds are of this type, which contain up to 0.3% nitrogen.Type Ib diamond - Very rare (~0.1%) in nature, but almost all synthetic (industrial) diamonds are of this type. They contain nitrogen at concentrations of up to 500 ppm.Type IIa diamond - Very rare in nature, these diamonds contain so little nitrogen that it can't be easily detected by the usual IR or UV absorption measurements. Type IIb diamond - Extremely rare in nature. These have such a low concentration of nitrogen (even lower than type IIa) that the crystal is a p-type semiconductor (due to uncompensated B acceptor impurities). Synthetic Industrial DiamondThese have been made since the early 1950's, by a process called High Pressure High Temperature synthesis (HPHT). This is an attempt to mimic the conditions under which natural diamond forms deep in the earth. Graphite is put into a huge hydraulic press at high temperatures and pressures, and with the addition of a metallic catalyst, converts to diamond over a period of a few hours. The diamond crystals that are produced by this method are typically a few mm in size, which are too flawed for use as gemstones, but are extremely useful as hard-wearing edges on cutting tools and drill-bits.Thin Film DiamondThis is a relatively recent development (past 10 years or so), which allows thin films (µm to mm) of polycrystalline diamond to be deposited onto a range of materials, using a technique called Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD). This is creating a great deal of excitement in the academic community, since for the first time we have access to all the superlative properties of diamond in a form that is useful for engineering applications. We can imagine hard-wearing diamond coatings on machine parts, diamond windows, diamond electronics, diamond displays, diamond fibre reinforcements, and a whole host of other applications. A review of the recent developments in this area can be found here.
A CVD polycrystalline diamond film.References:J.E. Field, The Properties of Natural and Synthetic Diamond, Academic Press, London, 1992.F.P. Bundy, The P,T Phase and Reaction diagram for elemental Carbon, 1979; J. Geophys. Res. 85 (B12) (1980) 6930.Acknowledgments to Cambridge Crystallographic Database at the Daresbury CDS for supplying the crystal structures of diamond and graphite.