The diamonds’ unusual crystal structure may make them harder than ordinary diamonds.
, a type of carbon-bearing space rock made up of silicates, sulfides, and metal. They think the recently studied ureilite rocks formed in a the mantle of an ancient dwarf planet, which collided with an asteroid early in the formation of the solar system. The hexagonal lonsdaleite diamonds formed within the ureilite rocks.
Extreme physics tends to bring out uncommon mineral structures. In 1945, the Trinity bomb test showed the effectiveness of the newly developed hydrogen bomb and , a bizarre, glasslike quasicrystal formed from desert sand and copper wiring in the high-pressure, high-temperature environment of the explosion.An asteroid’s collision with a dwarf planet is a similarly extreme event, one with the high temperatures and pressures necessary to create diamonds. Lonsdaleite has also been found in the meteorite fragments left over from the Meteor Crater impact event, which occurred about 50,000 years ago.
The recent work offers “strong evidence that there’s a newly discovered formation process for the lonsdaleite and regular diamond,” McCulloch added. By the team’s reckoning, the lonsdaleite formed in the ancient dwarf planet “shortly after a catastrophic collision.”If lonsdaleite’s structure makes it harder than ordinary diamonds, it could have applications in the materials sciences.
“Nature has thus provided us with a process to try and replicate in industry,” said study co-author Andy Tomkins, a geologist at Monash University, in the release. “We think that lonsdaleite could be used to make tiny, ultra-hard machine parts if we can develop an industrial process that promotes replacement of pre-shaped graphite parts by lonsdaleite.
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Dwarf planet collision may have sent strange ultra-hard diamonds to EarthRobert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter sciencef1rst.
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