
Material science has reached a new high with a newfound diamond.
(Photo : Paul O’ ‘Driscol/Getty Images)
Recent news on material technology shows that diamond may not be the hardest mineral in the world anymore. Lonsdaleite, a hexagonal polymorph of diamond is reportedly more than 50 percent harder than diamond. This particular kind of diamond occurs naturally at the very center of meteorite impact sites in the world. However, scientists may have found a method for to create this kind of diamond variant inside a laboratory.
A diamond harder than a diamond, the Lonsdaleite is normally created in high impact regions such as that of the center of a meteorite crater. A report from Phys.org has indicated that the hexagonal chemical structure of this specific material makes it much harder than…