This is an interesting question and raises a couple of points.
Firstly, diamond is a type of structure of carbon. Just as graphite (the stuff in your pencils) is a structure of carbon. So even when things are made of the same substance, their structure can make them stronger or weaker.
Also, hardness is just one measure of a material. There are other properties as well, such as their thermal and chemical properties.
So harder than diamonds?
There are a number of materials harder than diamond.
As James has mentioned wurtzite boron nitride, is around the same strength, but has better thermal and chemical properties. It is a particular structure of Boron nitride.
Lonsdaleite (called hexagonal diamond) is about 50% harder than diamond.
Carbon nanotubes are also harder than diamonds, but again are made from carbon.
Graphene is one of the newer materials. It had great conductive properties and is very hard and light weight.
The latest one I have heard of though is silicene, supposedly the next greatest material.
Nicely answered, James and Dustin.
Does that mean lonsdaleite is now a girl’s best friend instead of diamonds? I don’t know if that saying is going to take of… 🙂
If anyone is interested, the different structures of carbon that Dustin mentioned are called ‘allotropes’. Allotropes are all made of the same element but the atoms are arranged/bonded in different ways. In addition to diamonds, graphite, and carbon nanotubes, another well-known allotrope of carbon is called buckminsterfullerene. It is also known as a bucky ball for short, because it is shaped like an icosahedron (kind of like a sphere – think of a soccer ball), and it is made up of 60 carbon atoms (there are some other sized fullerenes but C60 is the most common one). Its named after Richard Buckminster Fuller, who was an architect and scentist who designed geodesic domes. I’ve been tutoring an experiment this semester where the students have been working with buckminsterfullerene – it has a really nice purple colour!
Some people claim that there is and its called wurtzite boron nitride. I don’t know for sure though as its not my area of expertise
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Hi Shaunm,
This is an interesting question and raises a couple of points.
Firstly, diamond is a type of structure of carbon. Just as graphite (the stuff in your pencils) is a structure of carbon. So even when things are made of the same substance, their structure can make them stronger or weaker.
Also, hardness is just one measure of a material. There are other properties as well, such as their thermal and chemical properties.
So harder than diamonds?
There are a number of materials harder than diamond.
As James has mentioned wurtzite boron nitride, is around the same strength, but has better thermal and chemical properties. It is a particular structure of Boron nitride.
Lonsdaleite (called hexagonal diamond) is about 50% harder than diamond.
Carbon nanotubes are also harder than diamonds, but again are made from carbon.
Graphene is one of the newer materials. It had great conductive properties and is very hard and light weight.
The latest one I have heard of though is silicene, supposedly the next greatest material.
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Nicely answered, James and Dustin.
Does that mean lonsdaleite is now a girl’s best friend instead of diamonds? I don’t know if that saying is going to take of… 🙂
If anyone is interested, the different structures of carbon that Dustin mentioned are called ‘allotropes’. Allotropes are all made of the same element but the atoms are arranged/bonded in different ways. In addition to diamonds, graphite, and carbon nanotubes, another well-known allotrope of carbon is called buckminsterfullerene. It is also known as a bucky ball for short, because it is shaped like an icosahedron (kind of like a sphere – think of a soccer ball), and it is made up of 60 carbon atoms (there are some other sized fullerenes but C60 is the most common one). Its named after Richard Buckminster Fuller, who was an architect and scentist who designed geodesic domes. I’ve been tutoring an experiment this semester where the students have been working with buckminsterfullerene – it has a really nice purple colour!
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Hey shaunm. I just heard a quote from Delta “pressure makes diamonds”…. she’s a clever one. don’t think she knows about Lonsdaleite.
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