All of us know the struggle that comes with desperately trying to deleting old pictures and unwanted text messages from our phone just so we can download that song we keep hearing on the radio. We are constantly fighting with ourselves over what on our phone is worth keeping. We all struggle with storage space on our electronic devices. We loathe the process of clearing out our phone to make more room for updated versions of Instagram and Snapchat. However, physicists at City College of New York confirmed that diamonds will eventually be able to store data.
Many diamonds have imperfections within their stones. Diamonds are made from carbon, but sometimes a nitrogen atom can push into the diamond, creating a negatively charged “nitrogen vacancy center.” If you remove a carbon atom that was next to a nitrogen atom, the space left behind could store data. Electrons could be written in layers in order to store at a high capacity within the diamond. An extremely small portion of a diamond, thinner than a piece of paper, can hold a hundred times what a DVD can. Physicists believe that they could eventually access a diamond to store a million times for than a DVD, perhaps even more.
Another huge benefit to storing data in diamonds would be that diamonds, as we know, are forever. Flash drives, hard drives, DVD’s, and cellphones will all eventually malfunction and fade out. We eventually have to let go of those pictures that we never got around to printing when our screen goes black. Unlike a lot of technology devices, diamonds withstand the test of time. This makes storing data on diamonds a sure way to keep your data indefinitely. You could keep every screenshot of possible engagement rings from Diamonds Forever. (This is seriously great news!)
The concept of storing data within our diamonds is being developed and researched, making it a very real possibility for the near future. When someone asks to see your wedding pictures years from now, you might be using your wedding ring to show them. It is no secret that diamonds have always been a girl’s best friend, but if they can also store all of our surprise engagement session photographs, we’ll really fall head over heels.
