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Article: Late atomic bursts from cracked crystals. (crystals that emit bursts of atoms and molecules when cracked)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- May 4, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When brittle crystals break, they often stage a spectacular light-and-particle show, spewing copious quantities of photons, electrons, ions, single atoms and even clusters of atoms. Now, researchers have discovered that certain crystals also emit intense bursts of atoms and molecules after the material has cracked in two -- sometimes as much as 250 milliseconds later.
"This is a huge delay in terms of the normal kinds of mechanisms [proposed to account for emissions accompanying fracture]," says physicist J. Thomas Dickinson of Washington State University in Pullman. "It's a very peculiar effect."
Dickinson and his collaborators describe their findings ...