Anonymous Coward User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:18 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | From our own news ticker to the left.
Diamond is no longer nature’s hardest material
India News
2009-02-18
London: Diamond will always be a woman’s best friend but the gemstone is no longer the world’s hardest material, according to scientists.
Instead, a rare natural substance, called lonsdaleite, which is made from carbon atoms just like diamond, has emerged as 58 per cent harder than the gemstone, according to a report in the New Scientist.
An international team, led by Zicheng Pan at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, simulated how atoms in two substances believed to have promise as very hard materials would respond to the stress of a finely tipped probe pushing down on them.
The simulation revealed that the first one, wurtzite boron nitride, withstood 18 per cent more stress than diamond, while the second, the mineral lonsdaleite, 58 per cent more.
Rare mineral lonsdaleite is sometimes formed when meteorites containing graphite hit Earth, while wurtzite boron nitride is formed during volcanic eruptions that produce very high temperatures and pressures.
If confirmed, however, wurtzite boron nitride may turn out most useful of the two, because it is stable in oxygen at higher temperatures than diamond.
And, according to the scientists, this makes it ideal to place on the tips of cutting and drilling tools operating at high temperatures, or as corrosion resistant films on the surface of a space vehicle, for example. Paradoxically, wurtzite boron nitrides hardness appears to come from the flexibility of the bonds between the atoms that make it up.
When its stressed some bonds tend to re-orientate themselves by about 90 to relieve the tension.
Although diamond undergoes a similar process, something about the structure of wurtzite boron nitride makes it nearly 80 per cent stronger after the process takes place, the studys co-author Changfeng Chen of University of Nevada wrote in the Physical Review Letters journal. |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:19 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Dont tell the ladies |
SubarcticBeef
User ID: 560939 United States 02/19/2009 07:26 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I've been told my skull was the hardest material known to science. I welcome all challengers, however. |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:34 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I've been told my skull was the hardest material known to science. I welcome all challengers, however.
Quoting: SubarcticBeefDont let them turn you into a drill bit! |
SubarcticBeef
User ID: 560939 United States 02/19/2009 07:37 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation |
I've been told my skull was the hardest material known to science. I welcome all challengers, however. Dont let them turn you into a drill bit! Quoting: RememberThisA battering ram, maybe. But my head isn't pointed.(I hope) |
Winningjob
User ID: 385114 United States 02/19/2009 07:40 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Kiss Black Diamond 1975 Midnight Special [ link to www.youtube.com] |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:40 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:40 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:47 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation |
<<Closet Kiss fan Awesome |
Winningjob
User ID: 385114 United States 02/19/2009 07:48 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 616732 United Kingdom 02/19/2009 07:49 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | wow. so where does this ionsdaleite and wurzle gumage boron nitride, stand with ultra hard fulerite and aggregate carbon nanorods???... |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:49 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:52 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Old Fav..this may post twice...gremlins'
|
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:52 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It did LOL....fuk it |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:55 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | wow. so where does this ionsdaleite and wurzle gumage boron nitride, stand with ultra hard fulerite and aggregate carbon nanorods???...
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 616732beats the hell outta me |
Winningjob
User ID: 385114 United States 02/19/2009 07:57 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Old Fav..this may post twice...gremlins'
Quoting: RememberThisNICE! I love when they all sing the chorus! |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:57 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I still think the memory metal the found at Roswell is the shit LOL...Too bad they didnt make the ship out of it |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:58 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Old Fav..this may post twice...gremlins'
NICE! I love when they all sing the chorus!
Quoting: WinningjobLooks like Im going to have to fire up Rhapsody and wake up the neighbors |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 07:58 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | With my headphones even wahahahaha |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 08:02 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Youtube has the video down...the audio is .....lacking LOL |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 615909 United States 02/19/2009 08:19 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 416242 Slovakia 02/19/2009 05:50 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | They forgot to tell us what material did they use to produce the drill that drilled into the most hard stuff at all... |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 618387 United States 02/19/2009 06:30 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | They forgot to tell us what material did they use to produce the drill that drilled into the most hard stuff at all... Quoting: Anonymous Coward 416242You know how they do it ...they just cram it in till it breaks and then look at what they have LOL |