Follow your curiosity

What discovery has been shared with you?

FACTREE gives you something interesting to discover every day — and something worth talking about together.

Start with one fact. Explore it, go deeper, then follow whichever branch catches your imagination.

Choose subjects for a surprise

Exploring any topic

Begin your discovery

Your next discovery is one click away.

Choose one or more subjects above, or leave Any Topic selected and let curiosity decide.

Chemistry

Properties of Covalent Network Solids: Diamond

Quick fact

Diamond is the only gemstone made of a single element: carbon. Its hardness on the Mohs scale is 10, the maximum, and it can only be scratched by another diamond.

Why this is interesting

You know diamond is the hardest natural material, but did you know its extraordinary strength comes from the same type of bonds that hold water molecules together? So why is diamond so much harder than ice?