 Diamonds are commonly known as a girl's best friend, but there's more to diamonds than just their dazzle. Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring substances found on earth. And so, it's no surprise that on the Mohs hardness scale, which is a scale measuring their scratch resistance of many various minerals, diamond ranks at 10 with 1 being the least resistant to scratches, and 10 being the most resistant to scratches. But what gives diamonds its famous hardness? The answer lies in the molecular structure of diamond, which is composed of five carbon atoms sharing their electrons with each other in a tetrahedral lattice. The bonds between these carbon atoms are extremely strong and very, very, very hard to break. Also, since a lot of energy is required to break the bonds between these carbon atoms, this means diamond has a very high boiling and melting point. Since diamond is extremely hard, it can be used for industrial applications such as grinding, drilling, cutting and polishing. Diamond also cuts faster and is more durable than other materials like steel. Also, the strong covalent bond between the carbon atoms means diamonds don't have free electrons lying around, making them terrible electric conductors, but excellent heat conductors. In fact, diamond is five times better at conducting heat than copper. Because of their excellent thermal conductivity, diamonds can be used in electronic parts like heat sinkers. In addition, when diamonds are heated to around 752 degrees Fahrenheit, they experience what is called a thermionic emission in which the intense heat causes diamonds to shed their electrons. For this reason, diamond could one day be used in solar panels. So as you can see, diamond is more than just a piece of crystallized carbon and a girl's best friend. It has so much potential in both science and technology.