How to Make a Synthetic Diamond

Step 2: Prepare the Olive Oil

As I mentioned above, the theory behind this project is using microwaves to heat the graphite into a plasma. In general, pencil graphite is not reactive enough to microwaves. So, a thin oil is used to concentrate the heat in a specific area of the graphite. Also, as the oil heats up and begins to burn, it chemically separates the binder in the pencil lead from the graphite.

Place a few drops of olive oil onto a plate and lay the thread in the oil. The thread will absorb some of the oil.