Never-before-seen 'crystal-like matter' hidden in a chunk of fossilized lightning is probably a bran [View all]

Never-before-seen 'crystal-like matter' hidden in a chunk of fossilized lightning is probably a brand new mineral

Story by Harry Baker • 9h ago

Story by Harry Baker • 10h ago

A potentially brand new mineral may have been hiding inside a chunk of "fossilized lightning" from Florida, scientists have revealed.



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© Bindi et al. 2023, (CC BY 4.0)

"We have never seen this material occur naturally on Earth," Mathew Pasek, a geoscientist at the University of South Florida, said in a statement. "Minerals similar to it can be found in meteorites and space, but we've never seen this exact material anywhere."

The fossilized lightning chunk, or fulgurite, was created when lightning struck a tree near New Port Richey. Fulgurites form when powerful lightning bolts discharge through the ground, which melts and fuses any nearby soil, sand, rock and organic debris into a singular metallic-looking lump.

The owner of the New Port Richey tree sold the fulgurite to Pasek, who studies high-energy chemical reactions like those triggered by lightning. After cracking open the rocky lump, which was around 2.8 inches (7 cenitmeters) long and 0.8 inches (2 cm) wide, Pasek and fellow researchers discovered a "colorful, crystal-like matter" within the fulgurite. Subsequent analysis revealed that the mysterious matter was a previously unknown material consisting mainly of calcium phosphate (CaHPO3). The team strongly suspects that the new material is a brand-new mineral type, but it will take time for this to be confirmed by other scientists.

During their analysis, the researchers also tried, and failed, to recreate the mineral in a lab. The scientists believe they failed to recreate the new material because it rapidly forms under precise conditions that are hard to predict and replicate: Every time they got close, the compound would start to break down into something else because it had been heated for too long.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/never-before-seen-crystal-like-matter-hidden-in-a-chunk-of-fossilized-lightning-is-probably-a-brand-new-mineral/ar-AA19SaK0