[Epoch Times, September 14, 2022](Compiled and reported by Epoch Times reporter Zhang Yufei) NaturaldiamondIt is formed by carbon atoms under the huge pressure inside the earth, and it is the largest in the world.hardone of the most expensive substances in the world.However, scientists recentlymeteoritefound a harderMystery Diamondand the meteorite likely originated from a dwarf planet that catastrophically collided with an asteroid billions of years ago.
According to comprehensive media reports, an international research team recentlymeteoriteA crystal, the largest ever found in a meteorite, is thinner than a human hair.This crystal belongs to theLansdale Stone(lonsdaleite) raritydiamondhas an unusual hexagonal structure, which is morehard。
Of course, this is not an ordinary meteorite, but a rare stony meteorite called Ureilite, which is believed to come from the mantle layer of a dwarf planet.
Scientists believe that the meteorite may have originated from a dwarf planet that catastrophically collided with an asteroid 4.5 billion years ago, and in some kind of coincidence, the meteorite ended up on Earth.
Dougal McCulloch, Director of Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility at Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia, said the study clearly demonstrated thatLansdale Stoneexist in nature.
But the details of how these superdiamonds form in space remain somewhat mysterious. Using advanced electron microscopy techniques, McCulloch and colleagues looked at meteorite slices and thought they might have uncovered a new process for the formation of lansterite and ordinary diamond.
McCulloch said the process “is like the supercritical chemical vapor deposition process that occurs in these space rocks, possibly in dwarf planets shortly after a catastrophic collision,” a chemical vapor deposition that people make in the laboratory. One of the ways of diamonds.
Andy Tomkins, professor of geology at Monash University, said the bluesdaleite the team proposed from the meteorite was formed from a supercritical fluid at high temperature and moderate pressure, and was almost perfectly preserved in the meteorite. Shape and texture of graphite.
Lansdaleite is a kind of carbon allotrope. It was first discovered in the Barringer crater in Arizona, USA in 1967. Its crystal structure is different from that of ordinary diamond, and its hardness is 58% higher than that of ordinary diamond. , with very high industrial value.
“This new discovery has enormous potential for industries such as mining,” CSIRO scientist Colin MacRae said in a statement.Press release“If we can develop an industrial process that facilitates the replacement of preformed graphite parts with lanstellite, then lanstellite could be used to make tiny, superhard machine parts.
The research results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Responsible editor: Han Yu#