• Question: What's str than diamond?

    • Keywords:
      • Royal Society of Chemistry: Find out more about:
      Asked by I like Grapes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to Elizabeth, James, Martin, Martin, Rob on 17 Mar 2015.
      • Photo: James Coombs OBrien

        James Coombs OBrien answered on 17 Mar 2015:

        Diamond is normally thought of as the strongest material there is, but fairly recently scientists have predicted a material that could be 58% stronger!

        Its called Wurtzite Boron Nitride but is so rare that we can’t get enough of it to test it or make anything useful from it. This really strong material is made during volcanic eruptions because of the high temperatures and pressures.

        So diamond is the strongest material that we can use and have made but some people predict that stronger materials do exist but we are yet to see and hold them!

        Thanks!

      • Photo: Elizabeth Cooper

        Elizabeth Cooper answered on 18 Mar 2015:

        The hardest most common material known is diamond. Diamond is made up entirely of the element carbon.

        However work is being completed at the minute on another chemical wurtzite boron nitride. It has a similar structure to diamond, but is made up of different atoms. Lab work completed by scientist showed that wurtzide boron nitride would withstand 18 per cent more stress than diamond.

    Comments