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are diamonds the strongest substance in the universe


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so far the topic has revolved around diamond being the HARDEST material/substance, rather than the "Strongest" as mentioned in the title.

 

here`s my suggestion for the "Strongest", Spider Web! :)

 

yeah seriously! it`s kicks ass outa kevlar or steel for the strongest, it`s not as "hard" as diamond (but then the topic wasn`t about hardness). I`de hazzard to say that spider web polymers are stronger than diamond for taking a bullet!

 

as for the "Universe" bit, well that`s basicly ANYONES guess since we really only know a tiny portion about it, but here on Earth, my money would go on Web :)

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im going for a neutron star or singularity, but there really isnt much (or any) of a singularity volume to use...., so use one of those if you want to build a bridge (it may destroy the earth though.... if that big). Gravity in such high quantities would surely make it stronger than mere chemical bonds?!

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eh, you can throw fullerenes into the graphite pile, since it's just glorified graphite anyway

 

 

one thing about graphite is not it's hardness but it's "toughness"

along the x,y (in the graphene plane) graphite is very very strong

that's why members of our group make nano-sized graphite plates and blend them into polymers, if you have the platelets covalently bound to the epoxy resin, it increases the toughness (and Young's modulus, etc) quite a bit (and makes it black)

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where does buckyball/buckminsterfullerene/soccerballerene/C60 rank in comparison to diamond?

 

Pretty damn badly. Diamond is so strong because it's a giant covalent compound, whereas C60 is molecular covalent. Nanotubes are a better diamond comparison.

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one thing about graphite is not it's hardness but it's "toughness"

along the x,y (in the graphene plane) graphite is very very strong

that's why members of our group make nano-sized graphite plates and blend them into polymers, if you have the platelets covalently bound to the epoxy resin, it increases the toughness (and Young's modulus, etc) quite a bit (and makes it black)

 

Not surprising considering the internal structure of graphite

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  • 3 years later...

If you are refering specifically to tensile strength, the carbon nanotubes win.

If you are refering specifically to hardness (as in resistance to scratching), then diamonds win but some boron nitride compound is supposed almost as hard (and can form similar structures to cabon).

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If you are refering specifically to tensile strength, the carbon nanotubes win.

If you are refering specifically to hardness (as in resistance to scratching), then diamonds win but some boron nitride compound is supposed almost as hard (and can form similar structures to cabon).

 

whether or not the thread stagnated in 2004 still Dr.D had something to say.

 

Thanks for making the distinction DrDNA.

Would you like to comment on compressive strength?

 

The original poster said "strongest" which is real vague unless you define different kinds of strength----hardness, tensile, compression etc.

I guess neutron matter that the cores of some stars are made of would be in the running for some category.

 

Welcome DrDNA if nobody said it yet :D

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Yeah.

Insane A, for all you know I've been waiting for 3 years to get that off my chest.

Man, do I feel better now. Whew, what a relief!:eyebrow:

 

Thanks for the welcome Martin. Very kind of you.

 

BTW: I have absolutely no idea what is in the core of a neutron star (I'm just a chemist- the kind that deals with organic matter)......I just know it is probably very hot and inhospitable there....probably too hot and inhospitable for any biological or bioorganic molecules to exist....:)

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I believe that Aggregated Diamond Nanorods are the hardest known substance (they were discovered recently btw). A neutron star is probably "harder" but I would not want to go test. But diamond, and I think also the nanorod form, will shatter if you hit it with a hammer. If you could make a composite of diamond nanorods and carbon nanotubes, it would probably be pretty tough.

 

I think carbon is the strongest material possible (by weight), because it is the lightest element that can form 4 bonds. Anyone know if this is true?

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  • 3 weeks later...

As far as ive read (and this is by no means comprehensive) there are substances harder than diamond, even by the Mohs scale, but diamond has its reputation because it is the hardest naturally occurring substance. But then, what counts as naturally occurring? something could be naturally occurring in the middle of a star, or in some other exceptional situation. maybe it was 'occurring on earth'. something like that :P

 

 

 

Edit: Ha, it seems ive given this thread a second resurrection.

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  • 11 months later...

The boron on tooth enamel or a human thigh I thought those were the hardest of the body. But of the universe that's too large a question for an earthling due to the undiscovered or else undisclosed materials that might be floating around out here. Diamonds are they hardest on earth well I think they are one of the most powerful (lasers) but not sure about hardness. I'll read up more.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Diamond doesn't actually have a hexagonal structure. Graphite does, and that might be what you are thinking off.

 

Diamond has a tetrahedral type structure, where every carbon is bonded to four other carbons at 109.5 deg angles to each other.

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