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Scientists Discover Material Harder Than Diamond
- ars 18y agoWhy is it that boron, nitrogen, and carbon have a lock on the really hard materials list? Many really hard materials are xxx nitride or xxx carbide.
- russell 18y agoOff the top of my head, I would say it's because the atoms are small and they form lots of bonds, carbon in particular. Diamond is a tetrahedral structure and I think the other really hard substances are also,
- newt0311 18y agoIf you look in a periodic table, you will find that Boron, Carbon, and Nitrogen have 5, 6, and 7 electrons altogether. Any element with fewer valence electrons will be ineffective in forming latices with covalent bonds (as they have too few valence electrons). O and F are ineffective because they have too many valence electrons to effectively form a lattice as they can only form 1 or 2 valence bonds. Ne is a noble gas so its out of the running. All the rest can form nice valence bonds but the extra electron shells and increased atomic radius means that these valnce bonds are not as strong as the ones for B, N, and C. Note: That the best explanation that I could come up with with my very basic knowledge of chemistry. I am sure a chem prof. will be able to give a much better answer.
- palish 18y agoNeat. Does. Anyone know what impact this discovery could have? Is a harder-than-diamond substance useful? (The obvious use case is for diamond cutters.)
- gojomo 18y agoWelcome to The Lonsdaleite Age?
- sam_in_nyc 18y agoI've always wondered: just how hard are diamonds? What would happen if I hammered one? Are they so strong as to become lodged into the head of the hammer, or the surface beneath the diamond? Are they that hard?
- wmf 18y agoWhat would happen if I hammered one? AFAIK it would shatter because diamond is very brittle. Hardness != strength. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressive_strength http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressive_strength