Science has discovered a new substance: created by lightning and based on phosphorus

Science has discovered a new substance: created by lightning and based on phosphorus

Lightning strikes a tree New Port Richey, Florida and the influence it creates A new substance based on phosphorus It has not been described before, neither on Earth nor in space. This discovery is attributed to L.Oka Bindi, Professor at the University of Florence, He and his colleagues at the University of South Florida described the new material in an article published in the journal Journal of Earth and Environment Communications. The researchers made the discovery by analyzing a portion of fulgurite from the explosion caused by a lightning strike on a tree. “The force of the lightning caused a real explosion that sent electric shocks through nearby rocks, soil and sand,” says Bindi, a professor of mineralogy at the University of Florentine.

And he adds: “The explosion caused a scar – he adds Matthew Pasek researcher at the University of South Florida – thus the formation of fulgurite, also known as “petrified lightning”. A unique chemical reaction, caused by the event, creates a new substance containing phosphorus that is neither phosphate (very common on our planet) nor phosphide (very common in meteorites), but phosphite: the mineral was identified by Bindi in a sample of fulgurite, thanks to the analyzes that Performed at Florentine Laboratories. “In addition to studying how matter accumulates in extreme conditions,” Bindi comments, “studying phenomena such as lightning is important for understanding how much energy they have and thus being able to monitor their danger.” “Previous studies showed that the reduction of phosphates due to lightning was a widespread phenomenon on early Earth – concludes the third author of the study, Tian Feng This research can reveal that other forms of minerals are possible and that many of them could have played an important role in the evolution of life on Earth.

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