Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech
From: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Newsgroups: sci.nanotech
Subject: Re: Diamonds?
Keywords: carbon, wood
Message-ID: <Apr.12.17.18.28.1991.8977@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 12 Apr 91 21:18:29 GMT
Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department University of Rochester
Lines: 20
Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu

In article <Apr.9.22.03.31.1991.26994@athos.rutgers.edu> landman@eng.sun.com (Howard A. Landman) writes:

>In article <Apr.3.14.33.24.1991.24769@athos.rutgers.edu> toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes:
>>So why don't living things use diamond?

>There are lots of possible answers.  I think the most likely are:
...
>2. Carbon is already very valuable to living organisms, but silicon
>   (and maybe even calcium) are not so valuable, nor so flexible
>   in their uses.  It makes sense to save the carbon for nanotech
>   purposes (protein, DNA, energy storage) and use the simpler
>   materials for bulk structural purposes.

There are plenty of forms of life that use carbon-containing compounds
in structural elements.  Plants (cellulose + lignin), arthropods
(chitin), mollusks (shells) and even vertebrates (cartilage, horn,
egg shells).  So this explanation seems dubious.

	Paul F. Dietz
	dietz@cs.rochester.edu