The Disguises of Carbon
Did you know that a brilliant sparkling diamond is exactly the same substance as dull, black graphite? Despite the difference in price between diamonds and pencil lead, both are forms of carbon. This element has such special properties that all the molecules in your body are built from it.
Graphite and diamond, though the same, could hardly be more different. Graphite is dark, opaque and soft which makes it useful as the so-called “lead” in pencils. Transparent diamond is the world’s hardest naturally-occurring substance and is used in cutting tools as well as jewellery.
The enormous difference between diamond and graphite arises from the different ways that the carbon atoms are arranged. In graphite, the carbon atoms are in hexagonal layers, which slide over each other, making it an excellent lubricant. The carbon in diamond has been subjected to high temperatures and pressures deep beneath the earth’s crust. This changes the arrangement of carbon atoms to the tetrahedral one found in diamond where every carbon atom is joined to every other carbon atom.
In 1985, scientists discovered yet another form of carbon, they called “buckyball.” In this form, the carbon atoms are arranged like the pattern on a soccer ball. Buckyballs are found in space dust and have many unusual properties.
So next time you use a pencil remember that those same carbon atoms could have been part of a glittering gem worth thousands of dollars.
It has intrigued me for a long time that carbon atoms can go together in such different ways as to produce graphite and diamond. Graphite is useful, but not extraordinarily valuable. Diamond has limited usefulness, but is extremely valuable.
Ounce for ounce, there’s no comparison in the cost of these two materials. Yet if one were to deconstruct those two ounces of matter, all one would have is two piles of identical carbon atoms.
As individual human beings, we make much of the differences between us. Sex, race, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status and so on are the focus of much human attention. Some of that attention is directed toward keeping those who are “different” in their place. Often, the differences are the basis for the relative social value we assign to people. Crudely put, we appreciate some persons as diamond, others we despise as graphite, whose only value is their usefulness to us.
When God looks at His human creation, He is not so concerned with all of the distinctions which we emphasize. You might say that He deconstructs our social status and just looks at us all equally as individuals who depend on Him for life.
One of Jesus disciples, Peter, discovered the important lesson that “God shows no partiality.” This was in relation to a man of a different race, ethnicity, language and religion. God is not more impressed with some than others. In our time, His grace is extended equally to all of His human creation. Then, in the end, as equals we will all stand before our Creator.
In a vision, John, another disciple of Jesus “saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.” [Rev. 20:11] Without regard for social standing all were judged impartially by God.
Whether you consider yourself more like diamond or more like graphite, be sure that God cares about you personally and wants you to know Him.
David Humphreys and Ron Hughes
© August 2004
