3 properties of a diamond that tends to make them very good as cutting tools?

Question by HotDiggity!: 3 properties of a diamond that makes them excellent as cutting tools?
im performing a physics presentation, and need to have to speak about the properties of diamonds that make it good as an aide in cutting tools?
i have hardness, but would toughness and stiffness as properties be valuable also or not?
any advice/hyperlinks would be wonderful! 🙂

Ideal answer:

Answer by M.A
Yeah the 3 properties you listed are great. Don’t overlook to say that diamond is really only carbon and that black lead of your pencil is produced of the very same point, just assembled differently. Only the structures are distinct:
http://pictures.tutorvista.com/content/carbon-compounds/diamond-structure-graphite-structure.jpeg

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