# Which is harder: Diamonds or Buckyballs?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2001, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941 "2001-10-02T08:59:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941/1 "2001-10-02T08:59:00Z")

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I suppose Buckyballs are too tiny to be able to be able to physically measure their hardness (or are they), and I know they are **strong** \*, but are they **harder** than diamonds?

\*[sup]Strength, hardness, toughness not being same thing.[/sup]

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**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941/2 "2001-10-02T13:27:08Z")

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WAG – I would think diamonds. They are tetrahedral, whereas a buckyball is basically spherical (like a soccer ball). I would think a tetrahedral matrix is inherently more difficult to break apart, which I equate with hardness. Not sure I know the real definitions of these terms though!

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**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941/3 "2001-10-02T13:59:50Z")

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Diamond is definitely harder. Buckyballs have no extended coordinate system. Diamonds repeat the tetrahedral Carbon forever and ever and ever, making them the hardest materials known yet.

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**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941/4 "2001-10-02T14:04:01Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JS Princeton \*  
> \*\*Diamond is definitely harder. Buckyballs have no extended coordinate system. Diamonds repeat the tetrahedral Carbon forever and ever and ever, making them the hardest materials known yet. \*\*

Having said that, they DO [burn](http://newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00202.htm) rather easily…

Liked this story:

> [@](#):
>
> Had an interesting thing occur once when a home burned down and a rather “costly” jewelry piece was lost. It turned out that what was thought to be a diamond was found amid the melted gold remains of the setting. The  
> stone was completely intact and undamaged. It was later discovered to be a cubic zirconia (fake diamond) that would not burn. The fellow’s wife was not impressed that her husband would have fooled her into thinking he had spent big money on a diamond when he had actually bought her a  
> vastly less expensive cubic zirconia.

Gp

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941/5 "2001-10-02T14:04:50Z")

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Some of the fullerenes (buckyball relatives) are [nearly as hard as diamond.](http://focus.aps.org/v4/st31.html)

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-diamonds-or-buckyballs/84941/6 "2001-10-02T15:18:44Z")

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Slight hijack:

It is believed that Carbon Nitride is harder than diamond.