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Sounds cool. One annoying bit of breathless (and brainless) enthusiasm stuck out though: "In fact, diamond is the hardest substance known to man, there is liter
by zellyn 10y ago
Sounds cool. One annoying bit of breathless (and brainless) enthusiasm stuck out though: "In fact, diamond is the hardest substance known to man, there is literally nothing we could use that could offer more protection."
While diamonds are extremely hard, they are brittle, and shatter relatively easily.
- hasenj 10y agoMaybe it's my lack of imagination or not having English as a native language, but how can something be "hard" and at the same time shatter easily? EDIT: nvm found the answer via Google https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-diamond-hard-yet-brittle https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-diamond-hard-yet-brittle
- tunap 10y agoEven better: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardness I read an enlightening discussion on HN a few months back about "hardness". I was under the impression professional scientists/researchers do not use the generic terms "hard" or "hardness". Outside of marketing, I presume they would employ concise measurements like ductility, elastic stiffness, plasticity, strain, strength, toughness, viscoelasticity, and viscosity.
- razzaj 10y agoExactly. Not forgetting that radiation protection has nothing to do with the hardness of the casing. Lead is nowhere near hard and is one of the most used materials to shield from radiations.
- andygates 10y agoRelatively, but don't most electronics shatter much more easily? In a traumatic event that shatters my embedded diamond-powered pacemaker, isn't the squishy rest of me much worse off already?