FORCE OVER AREA

A typical diamond anvil face is about 100-1000 micrometers square. Consider that if P = F/A then to achieve 100 GPa, in a typical diamond anvil cell, it would thus require a force applied of "10 to the 7 Newtons"...can a force of "10 to the 7 Newtons" be applied in a typical diamond anvil cell by turning a screw along the pressure axis of the DAC? Where "10 to the 7 N" is on the order of 10 million Newtons of force...You can see that it is probably impossible to achieve such a force in a device the size of a can of coke. A standard tool in mechanical work for force measurement when tightening nuts on bolts is known as a torque wrench. A diamond anvil cell scientist could buy a torque wrench and measure the torque applied to the nuts and bolts that are tightened when diamond anvils are forced on to each other to generate pressure. One could get a measure of the torque applied in the tightening of the pressure nuts and bolts assembly, and thus one could convert the torque to a force applied in Newtons to the diamond anvils. From the ratio of force applied thus to the area of the diamond anvil faces one could obtain a ball park approximation of the pressure attained inside a diamond anvil cell, and calibrate it thus with an equation of state (EOS) pressure calibrant such as a Noble metal's lattice parameter.