For the first time, a diamond unique in the world discovered in the heart of a meteorite

It is an extraordinary discovery made by an international team of researchers. Consequently,

50,000 years ago, 30-ton meteorite crashed into the Arizona desert, creating an emblematic major crater in the United States. Furthermore, This meteorite, baptized Canyon Diablo and discovered in 1891, revealed an extraordinary secrecy. Similarly, An international team of researchers. In addition, led by the University College of London, has uncovered a completely unprecedented diamond structure, hidden in the fragments of this celestial body.

This discovery represents a world first. However, because scientists have identified a structure never observed before: graphene growths, called diaphites, nested with diamonds. Unlike the expectations of researchers who expected to find pure first time, diamond unique world hexagonal structures – an already rare form of diamonds – they discovered a complex assembly where diamond. diaphites coexist. This hybrid structure, the fruit of extreme conditions, does not exist anywhere else on earth in its natural state.

The formation of this diamond results from the shock wave generated during the titanic impact of the meteorite with. the earth. The energy released, equivalent to 133 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, has created extremely high pressures and temperatures. These exceptional conditions have enabled carbon atoms to organize themselves according to this unique architecture.

In comparison, classic terrestrial diamonds are formed at around 150 kilometers below first time, diamond unique world the surface of the earth, where temperatures exceed 1,093 ° C and where the pressures are colossal. Under these conditions, carbon atoms manage in perfectly ordered cubic structures over millions of years. The process of forming meteorite diamonds is radically different: it takes place in a few seconds during the impact. creating atomic arrangements impossible to reproduce naturally on earth.

This discovery opens up revolutionary perspectives for the development of new materials. The graphene present in these structures has exceptional properties: transparent. highly conductive, a million times finer than a human hair, as resistant as the diamond while being light as a feather.

Potential applications include advanced electronics with ultra-rapid load speeds, precision medicine, or the design of flexible and more efficient technologies. The formation of these structures allows scientists to hope to reproduce them in the laboratory.

Among the authors of this international study is Mohamed Mezouar, a French first time, diamond unique world researcher specializing in high pressure physics. The study is accessible free of charge in the Revue Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.