When lightning strikes, if the pressure and temperature conditions are met, it can then lead to the formation of a new material. The knowledge and analysis of this phenomenon could ultimately make it possible to synthesize these elements.
In Nebraska, the lightning that fell on a line electric formed a material hitherto never identified. This opened a new page in the history of ” quasi-crystal ».
A lightning strike can generate a new material
This new material, qualified as “quasi-crystal” has therefore shape following a lightning strike on an electic line and was discovered by geologist Luca Bindi (University of Florence). This discovery was made in close collaboration with other researchers from the universities of Caltch, Florida in the Sud or even that of Princeton and can be consulted in its entirety on PNAS.
According to Bindi, And flash on a power line creates new material in the ground. The quasi-crystal are materials in which atoms are arranged as in a mosaicin regular patterns who never repeat themselves the same wayunlike ordinary crystals.
A natural presence also exists
It is Bindi who has discovered There are about fifteen years that this material also existed in natural form (without interaction with an anthropic structure) after having analyzed precisely one meteorite sample kept in the Museum of Natural History in Florence. Afterwards, Bindi and his team have discovered new identical materials of extraterrestrial origin as well as the first of an anthropogenic nature (resulting from detonation process of the first nuclear test made by the United States in 1945). This result following this detonation therefore causes the formation of this “quasi-crystal”. How ? It is because of a pression extreme as well as temperature very important on a excessively short duration (a few nanoseconds).
Extreme conditions necessary
Following these initial discoveries, Bindi and several of his colleagues began studies investigating the composition of other materials following similarly extreme conditions.
The researchers will analyze fulgurites who take place when a powerful electrical discharge melts silica sand who is made of quartz.
The researcher’s more detailed explanation of the impact on the power line is as follows: The sample we analyzed was probably formed by the fusion of sand and materiall from of a power line downed by the landfill of a mighty ray” “the presence of siliceous glass suggests that he had reached temperatures of at least 1010°C ».
To conclude, Bindi indicates where future research could goallowing on the longer term to develop of the technologies allowing to synthesize these elements.