
‘Diamond will always be a girl’s best friend, but it may soon lose favour with industrial drillers.
The gemstone lost its title of the “world’s hardest material” some time ago, to man-made nanomaterials of slightly greater toughness. Now a rare natural substance looks likely to leave them all far behind – at 58% harder than diamond.
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The first, wurtzite boron nitride has a similar structure to diamond, but is made up of different atoms.
The second, the mineral lonsdaleite, or hexagonal diamond is made from carbon atoms just like diamond, but they are arranged in a different shape.’ via New Scientist.
Related??
- If you are thinking of buying a diamond, read this (jerichooncbs.blogspot.com)
- Scientists in Mexico turn tequila into diamonds (guardian.co.uk)