Stronger than diamond. - Polidicks

[quote][quote]========================= [IMG]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2012/superhard-1-combo.jpg[/IMG] -------------------------------- Simulated structures showing the starting material (left) of carbon-60 “buckyballs” (magenta) and m-xylene solvent (blue) and its superhard form (right) after being compressed by more than 400,000 atmospheres of pressure inside a diamond anvil cell. Although the crushed buckyballs are amorphous, the solvent preserved the material’s long-range crystalline order. Image by Lin Wang, Carnegie Institution of Washington =========================[/quote] [B]A team of scientists led by Carnegie's Lin Wang has observed a new form of very hard carbon clusters, which are unusual in their mix of crystalline and disordered structure. The material is capable of indenting diamond. This finding has potential applications for a range of mechanical, electronic, and electrochemical uses. The work is published in Science on Aug. 17.[/B] Carbon is the fourth-most-abundant element in the universe and takes on a wide variety of forms—the honeycomb-like graphene, the pencil "lead" graphite, diamond, cylindrically structured nanotubes, and hollow spheres called fullerenes. Some forms of carbon are crystalline, meaning that the structure is organized in repeating atomic units. Other forms are amorphous, meaning that the structure lacks the long-range order of crystals. Hybrid products that combine both crystalline and amorphous elements had not previously been observed, although scientists believed they could be created. Wang's team—including Carnegie's Wenge Yang, Zhenxian Liu, Stanislav Sinogeikin, and Yue Meng—started with a substance called carbon-60 cages, made of highly organized balls of carbon constructed of pentagon and hexagon rings bonded together to form a round, hollow shape. An organic xylene solvent was put into the spaces between the balls and formed a new structure. They then applied pressure to this combination of carbon cages and solvent, to see how it changed under different stresses. [quote]========================= [IMG]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2012/superhard-2.jpg[/IMG] -------------------------------- An optical photomicrograph of a diamond anvil surface shows two “ring crack” dents (magenta arrows) after it was used to compress a buckeyball/xylene material with nearly 330,000 atmospheres of pressure. The cracks indicate that the crushed material is “superhard”., that is, nearly as hard as diamond, the world's hardest bulk material. Image by Lin Wang, Carnegie Institution of Washington =========================[/quote] At relatively low pressure, the carbon-60's cage structure remained. But as the pressure increased, the cage structures started to collapse into more amorphous carbon clusters. However, the amorphous clusters still occupy their original sites, forming a lattice structure. The team discovered that there is a narrow window of pressure, about 320,000 times the normal atmosphere, under which this new structured carbon is created and does not bounce back to the cage structure when pressure is removed. This is crucial for finding practical applications for the new material going forward. This material was capable of indenting the diamond anvil used in creating the high-pressure conditions. This means that the material is superhard. If the solvent used to prepare the new form of carbon is removed by heat treatment, the material loses its lattice periodicity, indicating that that the solvent is crucial for maintaining the chemical transition that underlies the new structure. Because there are many similar solvents, it is theoretically possible that an array of similar, but slightly different, carbon lattices could be created using this pressure method. "We created a new type of carbon material, one that is comparable to diamond in its inability to be compressed," Wang said. "Once created under extreme pressures, this material can exist at normal conditions, meaning it could be used for a wide array of practical applications." More information: "Long-Range Ordered Carbon Clusters: A Crystalline Material with Amorphous Building Blocks," by L. Wang et al, Science, 2012. ========================= [/quote] Geology Rocks! :v:

Saw your avatar and the title, instantly thought of diamondillium.

Fuck your diamonds, lets make something that's [I]even more forever.[/I] BEYOND the Impossible bitches. :v:

[QUOTE=_jesterk;37283330]Saw your avatar and the title, instantly thought of diamondillium.[/QUOTE] Oh, please, everybody knows that diamondium is clearly superior.

I think you mean 'harder' than diamond? Diamond can shatter pretty easily, yet it can't be dented. :colbert:

[QUOTE=RubberFruit;37283382]I think you mean 'harder' than diamond? Diamond can shatter pretty easily, yet it can't be dented. :colbert:[/QUOTE] As a fellow pedant, I can confirm this is true :v:

[QUOTE=RubberFruit;37283382]I think you mean 'harder' than diamond? Diamond can shatter pretty easily, yet it can't be dented. :colbert:[/QUOTE] I meant 'strongest' as in it's ability to fuck up anything in its path. Not tensile strength. Metaphor: You can sit a can on a Jenga tower and it will stand, you push a can into a Jenga tower and you're fucking drunk. :)

[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;37283339]Fuck your diamonds, lets make something that's [I]even more forever.[/I] BEYOND the Impossible bitches. :v:[/QUOTE] Amen.

[QUOTE=Bradyns;37283319]Geology [b]Rocks![/b] :v:[/QUOTE] Jesus Marie..

[quote]An optical photomicrograph of a diamond anvil surface shows two “ring crack” dents (magenta arrows) after it was used to compress a buckeyball/xylene material with nearly 330,000 atmospheres of pressure. The cracks indicate that the crushed material is “superhard”., that is, [B]nearly as hard as diamond[/B], the world's hardest bulk material.[/quote]

[QUOTE]and hollow spheres called fullerenes[/QUOTE] Fullerenes are any molecule composed entirely of carbon. Spherical carbon is generally referred to as a buckyball.

[QUOTE=RubberFruit;37283382]I think you mean 'harder' than diamond? Diamond can shatter pretty easily, yet it can't be dented. :colbert:[/QUOTE] I'm wondering how brittle this stuff is, because diamond is brittle as all hell, its just incredibly hard, but hit it with a hammer you get diamond shards flying everywhere

What would happen if a car made of carbon-60 ran into a wall made of carbon-60?

[QUOTE=Haywood;37285787]What would happen if a car made of carbon-60 ran into a wall made of carbon-60?[/QUOTE] Well what happens when you drive a car made out of aluminum into a wall made out of aluminum?

[B]Every time someone mentions diamonds I have a hard time keeping a straight face as I remember this.[/B] Due to extensive research done by the Fourchon University of Science, diamond has been confirmed as the the hardest metal known the man. The research is as follows. Pocket-protected scientists built a wall of iron and crashed a diamond car into it at 400 miles per hour, and the car was unharmed. They then built a wall out of diamond and crashed a car made of iron moving at 400 miles an out into the wall, and the wall came out fine. They then crashed a diamond car made of 400 miles per hour into a wall, and there were no survivors. They crashed 400 miles per hour into a diamond travelling at iron car. Western New York was powerless for hours. They rammed a wall of metal into a 400 mile per hour made of diamond, and the resulting explosion shifted the earth's orbit 400 million miles away from the sun, saving the earth from a meteor the size of a small Washington suburb that was hurtling towards midwestern Prussia at 400 billion miles per hour. They shot a diamond made of iron at a car moving at 400 walls per hour, and as a result caused two wayward airplanes to lose track of their bearings, and make a fatal crash with two buildings in downtown New York. They spun 400 miles at diamond into iron per wall. The results were inconclusive. Finally, they placed 400 diamonds per hour in front of a car made of wall travelling at miles, and the result proved without a doubt that diamonds were the hardest metal of all time, if not just the hardest metal known the man.

[QUOTE=Str4fe;37286067]Well what happens when you drive a car made out of aluminum into a wall made out of aluminum?[/QUOTE] you create diamonds

diamonds lasts 4ever carbon-60 lasts [b]5[/b]ever

[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;37288527]diamonds lasts 4ever carbon-60 lasts [b]5[/b]ever[/QUOTE] Vacuum is 8ever.

[QUOTE=Reds;37283348]Oh, please, everybody knows that diamondium is clearly superior.[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.toplessrobot.com/04_bwbb_screenshot_-yivo-proposes.jpg[/img] bitch please

Funnily enough, diamond doesn't last forever. It is very,very, VERY slowly turning into graphite.

what about obsidian or bedrock?

[QUOTE=BCell;37295001]what about obsidian or bedrock?[/QUOTE] Obsidian is basically volcanic glass. It's just as shatterable as any glass, but it's also very hard (similar to diamond) and used to be used in swords as the blades. I don't think it's actually as hard as diamond, though. "bedrock" is a very generic term referring to the area of solid rock that's under the earth's soil. It's not a specific type of rock and none of it is particularly hard to my knowledge. Unlike in certain video games, real bedrock is entirely breakable.

[QUOTE=BCell;37295001]what about obsidian or bedrock?[/QUOTE] I am really really hoping you're not just saying that because of minecraft

[QUOTE=TMBGFan;37295223]Obsidian is basically volcanic glass. It's just as shatterable as any glass, but it's also very hard (similar to diamond) and used to be used in swords as the blades. I don't think it's actually as hard as diamond, though. "bedrock" is a very generic term referring to the area of solid rock that's under the earth's soil. It's not a specific type of rock and none of it is particularly hard to my knowledge. Unlike in certain video games, real bedrock is entirely breakable.[/QUOTE] You do realize he was making an entirely non-serious game reference right?

now crash a car made out of it into a wall made of diamond

[QUOTE=Biotoxsin;37295293]You do realize he was making an entirely non-serious game reference right?[/QUOTE] If it can be taken seriously, it's probably not a good reference.

[QUOTE=RubberFruit;37283382]I think you mean 'harder' than diamond? Diamond can shatter pretty easily, yet it can't be dented. :colbert:[/QUOTE] diamond is the hardest metal known the man

[QUOTE=ShaunOfTheLive;37295793]diamond is the hardest metal known the man[/QUOTE] Metal? I don't think diamond has metallic characteristics.

Diamonds aren't very strong, they're hard.

Wait a second. Buckyballs? Oh shit, they're gonna get banned because kids might swallow them.