Chemical bonding is what holds atoms together, it's the reason all these tiny atoms in the universe don't just fall apart. They stick together and form solids due to the electromagnetic interactions of different atoms. Try to think of atoms as tiny magnets, but not regular magnets with a North and South Pole. These magnets work on a different set of rules based on the filling of electron orbits. Nonetheless you can think of them as tiny magnets, some are strong magnets and some are weak magnets. The stronger the magnet, the stronger the bond. The stronger the bond are that make up a material, the stronger that material will be.

But what is in many ways equally important is the structure and arrangement of atoms in a solid. Crystals, which have an ordered structure, tend to be very strong because of their structure. Diamond, for example, is the strongest material found in nature. Diamond has a 4-fold Tertrahedral Symmetry, which is extremely rigid because the chemical bonding of the carbon atoms combined with the distribution of forces within the crystal lattice structure. These strong chemical bonds and the lattice structure allows forces to be distributed and absorbed to an astounding degree.

The strongest grid structure found in nature is the hexagon of a bee's honeycomb. Spongy bone tissue also combines strength with light weight. The hexagon of the bee's honeycomb has 6 fold symmetry, a diamond has 4 fold symmetry. But this nanoengineered super-material, which the aliens use for the rigid skeleton of their craft, has 12 fold symmetry. 12 is divisable by both 6 and 4 combining the 2 strongest symmetries in nature.

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