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Why is diamond not the most dense substance?
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Marlon Izzo
Why is diamond not the most dense substance?
There is no general relation between hardness and density. One thing is the packing and bonding character ( what matters mostly for hardness), other is the idealized atomic ball radius and the atomic mass, what matters mostly for density.
Osmium has the highest density among chemical elements, being more than 6 times denser than diamonds with $\pu{22.6 g cm-3}$ versus $\pu{3.52 g cm-3}$. Gold with $\pu{19.5 g cm-3}$ should be one of hardest materials, what is obviously not true as it is very soft.
There is no general relation between hardness and density. One thing is the packing and bonding character ( what matters mostly for hardness), other is the idealized atomic ball radius and the atomic mass, what matters mostly for density.
Osmium has the highest density among chemical elements, being more than 6 times denser than diamonds with $\pu{22.6 g cm-3}$ versus $\pu{3.52 g cm-3}$. Gold with $\pu{19.5 g cm-3}$ should be one of hardest materials, what is obviously not true as it is very soft.
There is no general relation between hardness and density. One thing is the packing and bonding character ( what matters mostly for hardness), other is the idealized atomic ball radius and the atomic mass, what matters mostly for density.
Osmium has the highest density among chemical elements, being more than 6 times denser than diamonds with $\pu{22.6 g cm-3}$ versus $\pu{3.52 g cm-3}$. Gold with $\pu{19.5 g cm-3}$ should be one of hardest materials, what is obviously not true as it is very soft.
There is no general relation between hardness and density. One thing is the packing and bonding character ( what matters mostly for hardness), other is the idealized atomic ball radius and the atomic mass, what matters mostly for density.
Osmium has the highest density among chemical elements, being more than 6 times denser than diamonds with $\pu{22.6 g cm-3}$ versus $\pu{3.52 g cm-3}$. Gold with $\pu{19.5 g cm-3}$ should be one of hardest materials, what is obviously not true as it is very soft.
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