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Q: Pressure to create diamonds - weighed in tortillas ( No Answer,   5 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Pressure to create diamonds - weighed in tortillas
Category: Science > Earth Sciences
Asked by: genktay-ga
List Price: $4.00
Posted: 05 Sep 2006 11:44 PDT
Expires: 05 Oct 2006 11:44 PDT
Question ID: 762439
I  know that diamonds are made by an enormous amount of pressure.  If
we were to measure that pressure in tortillas, how much pressure would
that be?  (Lets say the standard tortilla is 1/10th of a pound).
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Pressure to create diamonds - weighed in tortillas
From: jack_of_few_trades-ga on 05 Sep 2006 13:16 PDT
 
"Under continental crust, diamonds form starting at depths of about
150 kilometers (90 miles), where pressure is roughly 5 gigapascals and
the temperature is around 1200 degrees Celsius (2200 degrees
Fahrenheit)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond#Formation

So a diamond can be formed under a mere 5 gigapascals of pressure.  

145.04×10^-6 pounds per square inch = 1 Pascal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal

Assuming that a tortilla is 1/10 lb and is about 10 square inches, it
exerts 1/100 pounds per square inch.  Since the stack of tortillas
will be vertical, the math should be easy from here:
1/100 * X = 5 * 145.04x10^-6 * 1 billion pascals (1 billion pascals = 1 gigapascal)
.01X = 725,200
X = 72,520,000 tortillas

I'm hungry!
Subject: Re: Pressure to create diamonds - weighed in tortillas
From: pinkfreud-ga on 05 Sep 2006 13:30 PDT
 
This is gonna be one expensive burrito. A bit overly crunchy, too, if you ask me.
Subject: Re: Pressure to create diamonds - weighed in tortillas
From: elids-ga on 05 Sep 2006 16:30 PDT
 
Researchers estimate that the tortilla industry will grow to be a $6
billion industry by the year 2004.
http://www.tortilla-info.com/media_room/press/prrevenue03.htm

the average cost of a 16 oz package is about 60 cents
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/LIFESTYLE05/604200427/1042

that would mean that the US consumes over 10,000,000,000 tortillas annually. 
since we only need 72,520,000 tortillas for this and in the US we
consume about 27 million tortillas daily, you would need 2.8 days of
US tortilla consumption to achieve this amount of pressure.
Subject: Re: Pressure to create diamonds - weighed in tortillas
From: nowaydude-ga on 08 Sep 2006 03:01 PDT
 
weirdo
Subject: Re: Pressure to create diamonds - weighed in tortillas
From: genktay-ga on 16 Oct 2006 12:17 PDT
 
Thanks very much; I have never even heard of a "gigapascal."  

I am using this for a point I am making about pressure at a Tortilla Factory.  

Fun stuff!

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