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Science 26 September 1980:
Vol. 209. no. 4464, pp. 1512 - 1514
DOI: 10.1126/science.209.4464.1512
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Articles

Carbynes: Carriers of Primordial Noble Gases in Meteorites

A. GREENVILLE WHITTAKER 1, ETHEL J. WATTS 1, ROY S. LEWIS 2, and EDWARD ANDERS 2

1 Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California 92045
2 Enrico Fermi Institute and Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Five carbynes (triply bonded allotropes of carbon) have been found by electron diffraction in the Allende and Murchison carbonaceous chondrites: carbon VI, VIII, X, XI, and (tentatively) XII. From the isotopic composition of the associated noble-gas components, it appears that the carbynes in Allende (C3V chondrite) are local condensates from the solar nebula, whereas at least two carbynes in Murchison (C2 chondrite) are of exotic, presolar origin. They may be dust grains that condensed in stellar envelopes and trapped isotopically anomalous matter from stellar nucleosynthesis.

Submitted on February 11, 1980
Revised on May 19, 1980


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Interstellar Carbon in Meteorites.
P. K. Swart, P. K. SWART, M. M. GRADY, C. T. PILLINGER, R. S. LEWIS, and E. ANDERS (1983)
Science 220, 406-410
   Abstract »    PDF »
Carbyne Forms of Carbon: Do They Exist?.
P. P. K. Smith, P. P. K. SMITH, and P. R. BUSECK (1982)
Science 216, 984-986
   Abstract »    PDF »
Graphitic carbon in the Allende meteorite: a microstructural study.
P. Smith and P. Buseck (1981)
Science 212, 322-324
   Abstract »    PDF »
Carbynes in Meteorites: Detection, Low-Temperature Origin, and Implications for Interstellar Molecules.
R. Hayatsu, R. HAYATSU, R. G. SCOTT, M. H. STUDIER, R. S. LEWIS, and E. ANDERS (1980)
Science 209, 1515-1518
   Abstract »    PDF »


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