[meteorite-list] Nobel Prizewinning Quasicrystal Fell From Space
From: Greg Hupé <gmhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 19:44:54 -0500 Message-ID: <7E2DEF3F9794498AB5D736F802F19512_at_Gregor> Jeff replied: "No." Quick and to the point, I like that! :) Is a name and/or number in the works? Thank you, Greg -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Grossman Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 7:40 PM To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Nobel Prizewinning Quasicrystal Fell From Space No. On 1/3/2012 2:41 PM, Greg Hup? wrote: > Very interesting! Does this meteorite have a name or number yet? > > Best Regards, > Greg > > ==================== > Greg Hup? > The Hup? Collection > gmhupe at centurylink.net > www.LunarRock.com > NaturesVault (eBay) > IMCA 3163 > ==================== > Click here for my current eBay auctions: > http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnaturesvault > > > > -----Original Message----- From: Ron Baalke > Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 1:56 PM > To: Meteorite Mailing List > Subject: [meteorite-list] Nobel Prizewinning Quasicrystal Fell From Space > > > http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21325-nobel-prizewinning-quasicrystal-fell-from-space.html > > Nobel prizewinning quasicrystal fell from space > by David Shiga > New Scientist > January 3, 2012 > > A Nobel prizewinning crystal has just got alien status. It now seems > that the only known sample of a naturally occurring quasicrystal fell > from space, changing our understanding of the conditions needed for > these curious structures to form. > > Quasicrystals are orderly, like conventional crystals, but have a more > complex form of symmetry. Patterns echoing this symmetry have been used > in art for centuries, but materials with this kind of order on the atomic > scale were not discovered until the 1980s. > > Their discovery, in a lab-made material composed of metallic elements > including aluminium and manganese, garnered Daniel Shechtman of > the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa last year's Nobel > prize in chemistry. > > Now Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University and colleagues have evidence > that the only known naturally occurring quasicrystal sample, found in a > rock from the Koryak mountains in eastern Russia, is part of a meteorite. > > Nutty conditions > > Steinhardt suspected the rock might be a meteorite when a team that he > led discovered the natural quasicrystal sample > <http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1170827> > in 2009. But other researchers, including meteorite expert Glenn > MacPherson > of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington DC, were sceptical. > > Now Steinhardt and members of the 2009 team have joined forces with > MacPherson to perform a new analysis of the rock, uncovering evidence > that has finally convinced MacPherson. > > In a paper that the pair and their teams wrote together, the researchers > say the rock has experienced the extreme pressures and temperatures > typical of the high-speed collisions that produce meteoroids in the > asteroid belt. In addition, the relative abundances of different oxygen > isotopes in the rock matched those of other meteorites rather than the > isotope levels of rocks from Earth. > > It is still not clear exactly how quasicrystals form in nature. > Laboratory specimens are made by depositing metallic vapour of a > carefully controlled composition in a vacuum chamber. The new discovery > that that they can form in space too, where the environment is more > variable, suggests the crystals can be produced in a wider variety of > conditions. "Nature managed to do it under conditions we would have > thought completely nuts," says Steinhardt. > > Journal reference: /Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences/, > DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1111115109 <http://www.pnas.org/> > > ______________________________________________ > HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ > HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list Received on Tue 03 Jan 2012 07:44:54 PM PST |
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