While people often associate luxury with diamonds, the most costly substance in existence is not what many would expect.
Although gold and diamonds are typically thought of when considering the world’s priciest materials, the top spot actually belongs to a substance that comes in a powdered form.
Items like truffles, saffron, and caviar are also considered valuable, and industrial materials such as platinum and tritium carry high prices too. Yet, when one hears the word ‘powder,’ thoughts might wander to more illicit substances.
Nonetheless, none of these powdered forms come close to matching a material that can command up to $140 million per gram.
This material is known as ‘Nitrogen Atom-Based Endohedral Fullerenes,’ a name that’s not exactly easy to pronounce. But then, how often will one need to say it, considering its price?
The value of this material lies in its potential applications for future technologies.
Nitrogen Atom-Based Endohedral Fullerenes could be key in crafting very small yet highly precise atomic clocks.
Atomic clocks are critical for GPS systems, playing a significant role in navigation.
Currently, atomic clocks are quite large, often taking up an entire room.
By utilizing Nitrogen Atom-Based Endohedral Fullerenes, these clocks might be reduced to a much smaller size, akin to comparing an old IBM computer to a modern smartphone.
This advancement could revolutionize the use of atomic clocks, extending their application beyond mere navigation.
A sufficiently compact atomic clock could provide pinpoint accuracy in locating objects and eliminate GPS blind spots by including an onboard clock.
The development of Nitrogen Atom-Based Endohedral Fullerenes is credited to Oxford scientists at Designer Carbon Materials, who believe that one day even smartphones could be equipped with an atomic clock.
The term ‘fullerenes’ in the material’s name reflects its structure.
It consists of a ‘cage’ made of carbon atoms with a nitrogen atom ensconced within.
‘Fullerene’ is a nod to the structure’s design, drawing inspiration from Richard Buckminster Fuller, an architect and philosopher known for his geodesic domes made of interlocking triangles.