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For the hardest known material, take a look at this paper from 2005: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005ApPhL..87h3106D
Or the Wikipedia article for a more general treatment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregated_diamond_nanorod
Diamond is only the hardest known naturally occurring material. For the hardest known material, take a look at this paper from 2005: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005ApPhL..87h3106D Or the Wikipedia article for a more general treatment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregated_diamond_nanorod
Ref: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16610-diamond-no-longe...
Let's see what the actual journal article says. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6096/825.abstract?sid=... Long-Range Ordered Carbon Clusters: A Crystalline Material with Amorphous Building Blocks Lin Wang, Bingbing Liu, Hui Li, Wenge Yang, Yang Ding, Stanislav V. Sinogeikin, Yue Meng, Zhenxian Liu, Xiao Cheng Zeng, and Wendy L. Mao Science 17 August 2012: 337 (6096), 825-828. [DOI:10.1126/science.1220522] The S…
There are no small-scale diamonds present in the material. On the small scale, the material is a carbon glass (an unordered, or amorphous solid), distinct from diamond, which is an ordered crystal. Typically, high density glasses are stronger than crystals made from the same elements, so the strength of the material isn't particularly surprising, rather it's the processing of the new material that is novel.
It's also worth noting that this isn't even the first carbon-based material stronger than diamond. Lonsdaleite is a closely related structure that is significantly stronger. It is much less common, however, naturally occurring only in meteorites.
Scientific journalism at its worst. Really, this is fucking ridiculous.
Let's see what the actual journal article says. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6096/825.abstract?sid=... Long-Range Ordered Carbon Clusters: A Crystalline Material with Amorphous Building Blocks Lin Wang, Bingbing Liu, Hui Li, Wenge Yang, Yang Ding, Stanislav V. Sinogeikin, Yue Meng, Zhenxian Liu, Xiao Cheng Zeng, and Wendy L. Mao Science 17 August 2012: 337 (6096), 825-828. [DOI:10.1126/science.1220522] The S…
Materials Scientist here. There are no small-scale diamonds present in the material. On the small scale, the material is a carbon glass (an unordered, or amorphous solid), distinct from diamond, which is an ordered crystal. Typically, high density glasses are stronger than crystals made from the same elements, so the strength of the material isn't particularly surprising, rather it's the processing of the new materia…