Crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
a day ago
- #nuclear-test-materials
- #clathrate-crystal
- #quasicrystal-discovery
- Scientists discovered a new clathrate crystal within trinitite from the Trinity nuclear test, which is unprecedented in nature or nuclear explosions.
- The clathrate formed under extreme conditions: temperatures above 1,500°C and pressures of several gigapascals, leading to rapid atom rearrangement.
- This clathrate has cage structures made of silicon atoms, trapping calcium, copper, and iron inside, found in a copper-rich metallic droplet.
- In 2021, a quasicrystal was also found in trinitite, made of iron, silicon, copper, and calcium, and formed under similar extreme conditions.
- The study highlights that rare, high-energy events like nuclear detonations act as natural laboratories for creating novel crystalline materials.