Scientists from North Carolina State University have discovered a new form of solid carbon, called Q-carbon, and it has some unusual properties: Q-carbon is ferromagnetic, harder than diamond, and glows when exposed to energy. These properties make it different from graphite and diamond (the other two possible forms of solid carbon, known as phases), and the researchers discovered that Q-carbon can be used to construct diamond structures at room temperature. To create Q-carbon, it's necessary to have two things: a source of carbon and a substrate, a material where the reaction can take place. The source is called amorphous carbon, where all the atoms are in a disorganized, irregular distribution. Coal is an example of amorphous carbon, while in this case the choice for the substrate was between sapphire, glass or plastic. The substrate was coated in a layer of amorphous carbon, and was then hit with a single laser pulse for about 200 nanoseconds, heating it to 4,000 Kelvins (3,726
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