Scientific Diagrams – How not to do it

As you all probably know by now this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to three Mexican researchers who turned Tequila into diamond. I looked up the paper to find out a bit more about the story behind it. Turns out that the idea is a lot more sensible than it sounds.

Apparently, not all carbon-containing gas mixtures are suitable for CVD diamond deposition. If the carbon content is too high you don’t get diamond, but soot. If it’s too low you get nothing.

So what Morales et al. found was that Tequila has just that suitable composition to grow diamonds. Additionally it’s probably a lot cheaper than other precursor gases. What I just don’t get is this graphic that’s included in their paper:

So what is this? I am rather sure that the three lines that indicate the composition of “Comercial Tequila” should really meet in one spot, and above all that this spot should be somewhere within the area labeled “Growth region”. I mean, that’s the whole point, right?

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