Diamonds and Natural Gas

1. Diamonds and Natural Gas Hailey Montville Period 6 April 25, 2011

2. What diamonds are used for… 20% of diamonds are used for jewelry. The other 80% are used for industrial uses such as: • Cutting tools • Polishing hard metal • Phonograph and videodisc needles • Bearings for laboratory instruments

3. What natural gas is used for… Commercial purposes: • Heating buildings, cooking, drying clothes, and lighting Industrial purposes: • Waste treatment and incineration • Glass melting and food processing • Fertilizers and pharmaceutical products

4. Effect on the environment • They’ve had many unwanted natural gas disposals and diamond drilling accidents • Although natural gas releases less carbon dioxide than oil and coal, it still releases a lot • Natural gas releases greenhouse gases and causes acid rain • After diamond mining, they replace the topsoil, but don’t preserve the land • Diamond mining and drilling contributes to global climate change

5. Effect on organisms • The mining and drilling plants ruin their natural habitat and restricts their lifestyle • If there is an accident, the organisms are harmed greatly, whether it directly affects them or just the habitat • Drilling and mining causes greenhouse gases which are contributing to global warming

6. How diamonds are mined • They can be mined using pipe mining and alluvial mining • Pipe mining is where they use volcano pipes to bring up the diamonds from the earth • Alluvial mining is on riverbeds and beaches • A wall is built to hold the water and sand so the diamonds can be found

7. How natural gas is extracted • The company finds a potential drilling spot and after approval the dig down to where its thought to be • There isn't a likely chance they’ll find oil, but if its found it isn't in large quantities • If the well does come in contact with natural gas, its approved to start drilling and extracting it from the earth

8. Dangers • The methane found in natural gas is thought to cause cancer • Many workers are killed drilling for both diamonds and natural gas • Fracking harms the environment and contributes to global warming • If there's a spill or accident, most of the area surrounding it is destroyed

9. Natural Gas accident…(April 20th, 2011) • A natural gas accident occurred in Pennsylvania, when a well exploded near the surface of the facility. Fracking materials went into a nearby lake, causing harm to that environment. Fracking is a process that allows oil or gas to flow freely to the surface. This recent accident will cause many to oppose against fracking and natural gas. No harm was done economically though.

10. Diamond drilling accident…(April 10th 2000) This accident occurred at Getchell Mine & Mill in Nevada. A diamond driller was killed when his coat was caught in a drilling machine. The cause of this is that the management had not provided mechanical devices or established procedures. New orders and laws were put in place to prevent this from happening again.

11. Bibliography • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas • http://geology.com/minerals/diamond.shtml • http://www.businessinsider.com/fracking-accident-bradford-county-2011-4 • http://www.msha.gov/fatals/2000/ftl00m11.htm • http://library.thinkquest.org/5008/Used.htm