LucidDreamer Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 Depends on what your definition of strongest. Diamonds get that reputation because they are at the top of the hardness scale, which has to do with the strength of chemical bonds. Hardness is determined by doing a scratching test, basically seeing what will scratch what. Diamonds score a 10 on their ability to scratch other minerals and not be scratched themselves. Diamonds on the other hand can easily be destroyed by smashing them while some metal alloys can be pounded on all day and they will only loose thier shape a little.
Tesseract Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 well are they i have no idea Well, on earth maybe but nobody can say anything for the whole universe.
budullewraagh Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 diamonds are the hardest natural rocks known to man. this means that they're difficult to scratch. take a hammer to them and they'll shatter.
Tesseract Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 diamonds are the hardest natural rocks known to man. this means that they're difficult to scratch. take a hammer to them and they'll shatter. then whats the hardest substance?
aommaster Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 So, are they the hardest natural rocks AND substances?
aommaster Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 oh! By the way, what is the scale called? I forgot it!
apathy Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 beta-carbon nitride is predicted to be harder than diamond but it has yet to be synthesized in more than a monolayer or two http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Beta%20carbon%20nitride http://www.campusprogram.com/reference/en/wikipedia/b/be/beta_carbon_nitride.html
YT2095 Posted July 21, 2004 Posted July 21, 2004 if I`m not mistaken, Boron Nitride is pretty damn hard too! 1
stevemangles Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 its because of the structure of diamond that it is so hard
aommaster Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 ... The bonds all meet at equal angles and are of teh same size. There are no 'weak points' . This way, it makes the diamond very hard. But, the other form of carbon (Graphite) is pretty soft. This is becuase there are strong points and weak points. The weak points are always the first to break!
pulkit Posted July 23, 2004 Posted July 23, 2004 But, the other form of carbon (Graphite) is pretty soft. This is becuase there are strong points and weak points. The weak points are always the first to break! Diamonds have a terahedral 3-D structure with each carbon atom linked to four others. Graphite has a Heaxagonal layered structure with each carbon atom linked to three others. It is these layers that are teh weak points as they tend to easily slide over each other. Not surprisingly, when substances end up with the 3-d tetrahedral diamond like structure they tend to be hard, another example would be Silicon Carbide
ed84c Posted July 23, 2004 Posted July 23, 2004 the thing about diamond (carbon) is that it has exactly half the missing electrons in its outer shell. This mean every carbon can join to another almost perfectly. Theoretically a larger molecule again with 1/2 the electrons in its outer shell in a crystalline structure would be harder, but it may be impossible to make, a diamond made from americum etc. theoretically speaking though, are there any large (+90 atomic no.) that have 1/2 shells on the outside?
budullewraagh Posted July 23, 2004 Posted July 23, 2004 where does buckyball/buckminsterfullerene/soccerballerene/C60 rank in comparison to diamond?
aommaster Posted July 24, 2004 Posted July 24, 2004 I don't think it is anywhere near. Its in the shape of a ball IIRC
pulkit Posted July 24, 2004 Posted July 24, 2004 Theoretically a larger molecule again with 1/2 the electrons in its outer shell in a crystalline structure would be harder, but it may be impossible to make, a diamond made from americum etc. theoretically speaking though, are there any large (+90 atomic no.) that have 1/2 shells on the outside? Silicon i believe is a larger molecule with half the electrons in the outer shell, and shares a lot of properties of carbon lying in the same group of the periodic table as Carbon. However, it does not have a form harder than diamond.
ed84c Posted July 24, 2004 Posted July 24, 2004 soccerballerene? have you just made up another name for buckyballs or is that real?
budullewraagh Posted July 24, 2004 Posted July 24, 2004 actually, you can check the merck index on that one; soccerballerene is an actual name for buckminsterfullerene.
budullewraagh Posted July 24, 2004 Posted July 24, 2004 sorry, i just checked my index again; it's soccerballene not soccerballerene
aommaster Posted July 24, 2004 Posted July 24, 2004 lol! i always thought that the original name was buckminsterfullerene. I never thought that there would be the word 'soccer' in a scientific name
ed84c Posted July 24, 2004 Posted July 24, 2004 soccerballene is slightly less humourus than soccerballerene.........
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