Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Harder Than Diamond

Physicists at the University of Bayreuth (German) have created a new material that is harder than diamond.

The group created the ADNRs by compressing the carbon-60 molecules to 20 GPa, which is nearly 200 times atmospheric pressure, while simultaneously heating to 2500 Kelvin. "The synthesis was possible due to a unique 5000-tonne multianvil press at Bayerisches Geoinstitut in Bayreuth that is capable of reaching pressures of 25 GPa and temperatures of 2700 K at the same time," Dubrovinskaia told PhysicsWeb.

I know what you're thinking when you read the phrase "5000-tonne multianvil press": thin pizza crust.

Here's the article link (thanks Slashdot):
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/8/16/1?rss=2.0.

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