The Mineral From Space That’s Harder Than Diamond

Diamonds are known as the hardest naturally-occurring mineral on Earth, but some meteorites have been found to contain something that might be even harder. It's called lonsdaleite, and researchers are hard at work to make it themselves.

Corrections:
3:18 The carbon atoms in diamond and lonsdaleite both bond to four neighbors. What makes lonsdaleite stronger is how those bonds are arranged. It's a hexagonal pattern that is more resilient than the cubic pattern of diamonds.

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[andrewlangendam]

Its great to wake up, have breakfast, and see a video about a paper you worked on for a decade! Thanks SciShow for spreading the word about our weird little rocks!

[boydstephensmithjr]

Lonsdelite is something I saw in a Minecraft mod. I had no idea it was a real mineral until this video. It turns out to be really awesome IRL, too!

[PoseidonWasTaken]

Small correction about the Lonsdaleite. It doesn't have carbon atoms with 6 bonds. It still has 4 bonds since carbon can can only form 4 bonds. The difference in material properties is entirely from the shape of its bonds. Diamond makes a cubic grids while lonsdaleite makes hexagonal grids.

[bucketslash]

so you're saying hexagons are the bestagons

[paperclip]

This feels like the plot to a spy movie where the bad guy wants the super space crystal so he's got to smash to planets together.

[bioalkemisti]

Auto-generated captions kept saying the hardest thing is Lawn's Delight and I think that was just wonderful.

[Curiefeld]

"IF you went through a rocks snd minerals phase as a kid." Well, I'm perpetually stuck in that phase and now I'm studying to become a geologist 😂

[jayman]

I remember having to do w report on this when I was in Chemistry in High School. It's one of those substances like Graphine is that when they figure out how to make itannd make it cheaply could have a massive impact on how we are manufacturing things.

[AlixL]

Hell yeah, I always wanted to be able to tell diamonds that there are always bigger fish.

[brdsantos]

Carbon in Londaleite bond to 4 neighboring carbons as well. What changes is the disposition of atoms through the planes (similar, but not exactly equal, as the close packing of similar spheres problem). The problem with the hexagonal packing is its anisotropic properties, which means that they change depending on orientation. That can be a big no no for some technical applications. Even though it's cool that there's a "harder" diamond, it's probably too expensive, rare and its properties probably arent different enough to justify its economical exploration. I might be wrong, though.

[Alche]

At 3:18, carbon has a different lattice structure but its still bonding with 4 other atoms, not 6

[saygr]

Just a simple correction: Ionic Bonds ARE stronger than equivalent covalent bonds. In fact, Ionic Bonds are the strongest bonds between atoms and the strength of any bond can be measured by the energy required to break them apart. And Ionic bonds requires significantly more energy than Covalent bonds.

[mandi]

The Mohs hardness scale is calibrated to diamond. Diamond is always 10. Its like how if the international kilo looses mass its still a kilo, because that item IS a kilo. Similarly, a Mohs hardness of 10 is always diamond.

[pallasiteroid]

3:08 - "Each carbon atom is covalently bonded to 6 other atoms." - This is not correct. It's 4 just as in diamond. Only the layering is different. ABAB rather than ABCABC. Putting 2 more non-bonded(!) carbons more near. This is coordination not covalent bonds. Thus only a moderately higher stiffness & hardness is to expect. Mostly more directional variation (aka anisotropy) as there is just one preferred axis now rather than four.

[slowercuber]

And there I was wondering if someone had found a source for Netherite ... thanks for the great presentation of this really cool information.

[iagobkstar]

Lonsdaleite atoms do NOT have 6 first neighbours. Lonsdaleite has exactly the same number of first neighbours and in (approximately) the same positions relative to the center atom than diamond. It's precisely in the second, third and succesive neighbours where we find a difference between diamond and lonsdaleite, changing the properties of the crystal! The same is true of FCC and HCP crystal lattices. Actually, this is where this all comes from, as diamond cubic cell (also called sphalerite structure) is a FCC structure with a two atom base, and lonsdaleite has a wurtzite structure, HCP with a two atom base.

PS: I love SciShow, I've been a fan for many years but PLEASE try double check your sources. I happen to know a bit of crystallography (I'm a physics grad), but I don't know much biology or chemistry, so this makes me wonder if I've overlooked errors in other fields.

[michaelvaughn]

"Dogs are a girl's best friend". I laughed my ass off at that turn of phrase. If Lorelei had figured that out, instead of diamonds, she would have been a whole lot happier. Nice writing, SciShow team!

[MaryAnnNytowl]

From the PhysOrg link in the description, there's a quote:

"If somebody said to you, 'look, I'm going to give you the choice of two diamonds: one is lot more rare than the other one.' Which one would you pick?" ~ Yogendra Gupta, director of the Institute for Shock Physics and corresponding author on the study.

"Frankly, I would rather have something like black opal, instead. Clear rocks are boring." ~ me. Seriously, I've never had a diamond, and don't want one. Gimme a sapphire or amethyst, or like I said, a black opal, any day over a boring old diamond. I prefer my diamonds on the tips of saw blades or drill bits, instead. 😄

[diamondhunterTv]

I found your video on the mineral from space that's harder than diamond fascinating! It's amazing to think that such a small, extraterrestrial object could hold so much power.

The fact that this mineral is harder than diamond is truly mind-boggling. Diamond has long been considered the hardest mineral on Earth, so it's remarkable to discover that there is something even harder out there in the universe.

I appreciate how you explained the science behind this discovery in a way that was easy to understand, and the visuals you used really helped to illustrate the point. It's exciting to think about what other discoveries are waiting for us out there in space.

Overall, this video was both informative and engaging. I look forward to watching more of your content in the future!
[Diamond Hunter Tv]

[samsalamone]

2:13 - 2:25 The diamond reference photo is a Herkimer diamond (double-terminated quartz crystal)