Sandra Glaze, age 15, of Carleton Place, Ont., for her questions:

How are diamonds formed?

Diamonds are found where there were once volcanoes. At some time in the remote past, the layers of rock around them were under terrific heat and pressure. Heat and pressure, then, seem to be necessities in the recipe for making diamonds. The diamond itself is made from pure carbon. When this element is trapped under terrific heat and pressure, it crystalizes into clear, precious diamonds, hardest of all the natural minerals.

In the past few yearns man has learned to copy nature’s recipe for making diamonds. Man made stones are perfect copies of nature’s stones. However the fuel needed to make the heat and pressure necessary for the recipe is very expensive.