A team of researchers from Princeton University and the University of Florence led by Paul Steinhardt and Luca Bindi has discovered an ultra-rare quasicrystal in Russia, mere millimeters away from a meteorite that crash landed in the country five years ago.
Quasicrystals have uncommon properties like strength, hardness, low friction, and low heat conduction. As a result, these strange crystals can be used in applications such as the manufacture of protective coatings for cars and airplanes, to consumer devices such as cooking appliances or smartphones.
Before the discovery of quasicrystal in 1984, scientists believed there were only two types of solids: crystals and amorphous materials. Crystals consist of closely packed atoms that with near perfect symmetry while amorphous materials consisted of atoms that are connected in a disorderly manner.
This is not the first time researchers have found a quasicrystal. the same 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite that landed in the northeastern part of Russia harboured the only two other natural quasicrystals that have even been discovered. Interestingly, even though the unique crystals probably came from the same rock, the newest addition does not share the same structure and chemical composition as the two quasicrystals that were found five years ago. Taking the findings into consideration the researchers say that it is possible that quasicrystals can be formed naturally on Earth.
"The finding of a second naturally occurring quasicrystal confirms that these materials can form in nature and are stable over cosmic time scales," said Paul Steinhardt, a professor of science and physics from Princeton University.
Quasicrystals have an unlikely arrangement of atoms that differ from orthodox crystal matter like diamonds. At its atomic scale, these other-worldly crystals form pentagonal patterns that differ in size while still filling up gaps in its structure.
"The structure is saying I am not a crystal, but on the other hand, I am not random either,'" Steinhardt said. The findings have been documented in the journal of Scientific Reports.
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