Monday, August 8, 2011

Magnetite 3D Colloidal Crystals Formed in the Early Solar System 4.6 Billion Years Ago

The Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell to Earth in Canada in 2000, contains unusual opal-like crystals.

"First, a certain amount of solution water must have been present in the meteorite to disperse the colloidal particles,” the report explains. “The solution water must have been confined in small voids, in which colloidal crystallization takes place. These conditions, along with evidence from similar meteorites, suggest that the crystals may have formed 4.6 billion years ago."

"We believe that, if synthesized, magnetite colloidal crystals have promising potential as a novel functional material,” the article notes."

Source: http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/ja2005708 and http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=223&content_id=CNBP_027957&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=8730441f-f665-4dd4-805a-64b26f75a0ca

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