[meteorite-list] [Meteorites] http://phys.org/news184402061.html

[MstrEman]

Not taking from what Pete said, lonsdalite isn't a newly  identified
mineral, per se. It has been around a few years but the explanation as
to how both types of crystals formed "during entry" is bogus.  Boron
nitrate may or may not be formed on exposure to  atmospheric
nitrogen-- but it would only be on the surface and not in the
interior.

  I haven't read the background on boron nitrate's formation
conditions but I can't imagine a scenario that could impart any
nitrogen into the COLD interior during entry. Either way the text for
this report doesn't pass the smell test.

As to lonsdaleite, "entry pressures" short of cosmic velocity impact
with the ground are not high enough to create this polymorph of
carbon. It is far more probable that lonsdalite is literally burned up
in the presence of atmospheric oxygen as fast as it is uncovered.

Lonsdalite is the mineral form found in carbonados.  Its pentamount
hardness is why drill bit manufacturers had to embed them uncut
directly in the the bit casting. Until the recently found technique
cutting/burning with a laser, there was nothing that could cut them.

Another case of a out of work sports writer moonlighting as a science
writer perhaps?  If this is the researcher's real belief then he is
advocating a whole new arm of physics/chemistry.

Elton

On 6/30/12, pshugar at messengersfromthecosmos.com
<pshugar at messengersfromthecosmos.com> wrote:
> Hello list,
> The implications of these findings are, to say the least, staggering.
> has this been confirmed in other Ureilite meteorites? Such as Novo Urie,
>
> or others?
> For years, diamonds were the standard of hardness, and now that's
> all out the window!!!!
> Pete