Diamond is no longer nature’s hardest material

[n2doc]

TUESDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2009 16:09
London: Diamond will always be a woman’s best friend but the gemstone is no longer the world’s hardest material, according to scientists.

Instead, a rare natural substance, called lonsdaleite, which is made from carbon atoms just like diamond, has emerged as 58 per cent harder than the gemstone, according to a report in the New Scientist.

An international team, led by Zicheng Pan at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, simulated how atoms in two substances believed to have promise as very hard materials would respond to the stress of a finely tipped probe pushing down on them.

The simulation revealed that the first one, wurtzite boron nitride, withstood 18 per cent more stress than diamond, while the second, the mineral lonsdaleite, 58 per cent more.

more:
http://www.itvnews.tv/Sci-Tech/Science/diamond-is-no-longer-natures-hardest-material.html

[ogneopasno]

1. What a shittastic lede. There's no reason to get all cliched and sexist over it. ARGH!

That's at the writer, not the OP.

[MindPilot]

6. Yeah, that was really not necessary to the article

At least the writer didn't say "girl's best friend" :eyes:

[YOY]

2. Damn...I was hoping for adamantium...

n.t.

[DCKit]

3. Sexist.

Anyone knows that Evanantium would be far more durable.

[YOY]

4. Maybe that's what Wolverine's sister has in her skeleton.

n/t

[MindPilot]

5. I thought it might be moranium...

that dense dark matter between a republican's ears.

But density and hardness are not necessarily the same, right?

[silverweb]

9. Ha!

Love it! :D

[Ediacara]

7. Turn it up to 11!

Moh's 11 that is....

[caraher]

8. Misleading headline, too

This is a simulation. Call me when someone actually measures something in a lab. "Diamond might not be nature's hardest material" would be far more accurate