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Diamond is extremely strong owing to its crystal structure, known as diamond cubic, in which each carbon atom has four neighbors covalently bonded to it. Bulk cubic boron nitride (c-BN) is nearly as hard as diamond. Diamond reacts with some materials, such as steel, and c-BN wears less when cutting or abrading such material. [4]
Between diamond and graphite: Diamond crystallizes in the cubic system but graphite crystallizes in the hexagonal system. Diamond is clear and transparent, but graphite is black and opaque. Diamond is the hardest mineral known (10 on the Mohs scale), but graphite is one of the softest (1–2 on Mohs scale).
Diamond is the best known naturally occurring thermal conductor. Graphite is opaque. Diamond is highly transparent. Graphite crystallizes in the hexagonal system. [30] Diamond crystallizes in the cubic system. Amorphous carbon is completely isotropic. Carbon nanotubes are among the most anisotropic materials known.
Graphite consists of sheets of trigonal planar carbon. [20] [21] The individual layers are called graphene. In each layer, each carbon atom is bonded to three other atoms forming a continuous layer of sp 2 bonded carbon hexagons, like a honeycomb lattice with a bond length of 0.142 nm, and the distance between planes is 0.335 nm. [22]
Thus, graphite is much softer than diamond. However, the stronger bonds make graphite less flammable. [8] Diamonds have been adopted for many uses because of the material's exceptional physical characteristics. It has the highest thermal conductivity and the highest sound velocity.
Diamond and graphite are two allotropes of carbon: pure forms of the same element that differ in crystalline structure.. Allotropy or allotropism (from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (allos) 'other' and τρόπος (tropos) 'manner, form') is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical state, known as allotropes of the elements.
According to the researchers, Q-carbon exhibits a random amorphous structure that is a mix of 3-way (sp 2) and 4-way (sp 3) bonding, rather than the uniform sp 3 bonding found in diamonds. [7] Carbon is melted using nanosecond laser pulses, then quenched rapidly to form Q-carbon, or a mixture of Q-carbon and diamond.
Solid-phase electrical conductivity: Variable, [6] depending on the nature of the bonding: network solids in which all electrons are used for sigma bonds (e.g. diamond, quartz) are poor conductors, as there are no delocalized electrons. However, network solids with delocalized pi bonds (e.g. graphite) or dopants can exhibit metal-like conductivity.