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Re: The hardness and strength of osmium
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercedes Benzene
Which part don't you understand?
An allotrope exists when an element's atoms bond together differently. Carbon has many allotropes: diamond, amorphous (coal, soot, etc), graphite, and fullerenes.
Diamond is very strong, because the carbon atoms are locked together in a tetrahedral lattice.
Graphite is composed of hexagonal lattices which are layered on top of each other. That's why graphite is used in pencils. The latticed layers slide off very easily.
Fullerenes are highly variable, and can be specifically engineered by chemists.
In short, you can alter the way the carbon atoms are bonded together, but if the carbon atoms are not bonded to one another in a tetrahedral lattice, then it's not diamond.
Hope that helps!
Merc |
So are nanotubes superior to tehtrahedral lattices in all measurements of strength and hardness? 
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"We believed the world would not be the same, a few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent, I remembered a line from the Hindu scripture, the bagavagita, Vishnu was trying to convince the prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, he takes on his multi-armed form and says, Now I have become death, destroyer of worlds. I suppose we all thought that, in one way or another"
-Robert J Oppenheimer, The atomic bomb
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