The Mineral From Space That’s Harder Than Diamond

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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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