[meteorite-list] First opal-like crystals discovered in meteorite

[Matthias Bärmann]

I like my tiny Tagish fragment, and I like opals too. So the possible 
combination of both of them sounds thrilling.

Thanks, Greg, for the news,

best regards,
Matthias

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thunder Stone" <stanleygregr at hotmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 10:51 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] First opal-like crystals discovered in meteorite



List:

Intersting,

Greg S


http://scienceblog.com/46855/first-opal-like-crystals-discovered-in-meteorite/


First opal-like crystals discovered in meteorite


Scientists have found opal-like crystals in the Tagish Lake meteorite, which 
fell to Earth in Canada in 2000. This is the first extraterrestrial 
discovery of these unusual crystals, which may have formed in the primordial 
cloud of dust that produced the sun and planets of our solar system 4.6 
billion years ago, according to a report in the Journal of the American 
Chemical Society.
Katsuo Tsukamoto and colleagues say that colloidal crystals such as opals, 
which form as an orderly array of particles, are of great interest to for 
their potential use in new electronics and optical devices. Surprisingly, 
the crystals in the meteorite are composed of magnetite, which scientists 
thought could not assemble into such a crystal because magnetic attractions 
might pack the atoms together too tightly. “We believe that, if synthesized, 
magnetite colloidal crystals have promising potential as a novel functional 
material,” the article notes.

The formation of colloidal crystals in the meteorite implies that several 
conditions must have existed when they formed. “First, a certain amount of 
solution water must have been present in the meteorite to disperse the 
colloidal particles,” the report explains. “The solution water must have 
been confined in small voids, in which colloidal crystallization takes 
place. These conditions, along with evidence from similar meteorites, 
suggest that the crystals may have formed 4.6 billion years ago.”
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