Alien Mineral: Weird Behavior When Heated – Scientists Baffled

There is quite literally nothing like this on Earth.

Alien Crystals

A strange mineral found in a meteorite does not behave like anything on Earth when it’s heated.

In a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesan international team of researchers detailed the incredible properties of their sample of silica tridymite, an extraterrestrial form of silicon dioxide that was taken from a meteorite that landed in Germany way back in 1724.

Chief among them, the material does not follow normal heat conduction rules as we know them on Earth. Instead, it maintains a constant level of thermal conductivity when heated to a variety of temperatures, making its potential for manufacturing applications on Earth highly intriguing.

Meteorite Forge

Considered “heat-proof” by some due to its bizarre ability to stay the same temperature even when heated, the alien mineral is not only found on meteorites but has also been discovered on Mars.

Unlike most such pieces of space rock, their unique atomic structures cannot be classified as either a crystal or a glass. While crystals have, per a statementan “ordered lattice of atoms,” glass has a “disordered, amorphous structure” — and the trimidyte from that centuries-old meteor appears to fall somewhere in between.

The atomic structures also dictate how each material conducts heat. Crystals, the statement notes, generally decrease in thermal conduction when heated, while glasses increase in conductivity. The meteoric tridymite’s thermal conductivity, however, remained constant.

Thinking ahead, the researchers behind this study suggested that similar trimidyte materials could be used to more efficiently control extreme temperatures during steel production, which emits a whopping one billion tons of carbon dioxide per year and accounts for seven percent of carbon emissions in the US.

More on space rocks: Scientists Saddened as World’s Largest Mars Rock Is Sold at Auction