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

[MstrEman]

Errata:   Boron NITRIDE ( BN) not nitrATE (B(NO3)3)--(Bad spell
checker--  Bad, bad!)

On 7/1/12, MstrEman <mstreman at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>