Metalic Hydrogen has been sybthisized

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,388
Hi,

Interesting, but Superman has been producing that for years now between his thumb and index finger :)

Seriously, i wonder if it will keep it's light weight property, which could make for some very light weight wiring of some kind. That alone would be extremely useful in many projects around the world since wiring is so basic to the operation of so many types of machines (aircraft being only one of them).
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Difficult to see how it could find any use outside the lab if you need to keep it at 495GPa pressure :(.
“One prediction that’s very important is metallic hydrogen is predicted to be meta-stable,” Professor Silvera explained.

“That means if you take the pressure off, it will stay metallic, similar to the way diamonds form from graphite under intense heat and pressure, but remains a diamond when that pressure and heat is removed.”

Can't wait to hear how it behaves. Not optimistic about it sticking around.
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
“One prediction that’s very important is metallic hydrogen is predicted to be meta-stable,”
Interesting. But meta-stable ain't quite fully stable. I wonder what would happen if it suddenly decided to flip back into the gaseous state? A big release of energy? Don't think I'd want to stick around to find out :).
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Don't think I'd want to stick around to find out :).
Yeah, as interesting as it might be, can you imagine a chunk of metallic hydrogen in the room? It just doesn't seem likely to be stable. If it was really stable, wouldn't we find it in space, in meteorites?
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
So far, the only proof they have of their accomplishment is its optic characteristics. They still have to test it for electrical and thermal conductivity, among other things. It looks promising, though.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
So far, the only proof they have of their accomplishment is its optic characteristics. They still have to test it for electrical and thermal conductivity, among other things. It looks promising, though.
As usual there is the flip-side.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/2/2/metallic-hydrogen-discovery-skepticsim/
Several leading figures in the high-pressure physics field, however, say they do not accept Silvera and Dias’s findings at face value. Because their experiment was not replicated, several researchers said, it should not have been published in one of the scientific field’s leading journals.

Mikhail Eremets, who studies metallic hydrogen at Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany, said he was skeptical of the Harvard researchers’ discovery.

“The data were not reproduced, this basis of the scientific approach. This should be done first by the authors,” Eremets said. “In the present work there are not enough data and the quality of data is very poor. Papers with such data cannot be published in any scientific journal.”
I've read that Metastable metallic hydrogen is estimated to be a powerful explosive, ~35 times more powerful than TNT.

 
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cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
Yeah, as interesting as it might be, can you imagine a chunk of metallic hydrogen in the room? It just doesn't seem likely to be stable. If it was really stable, wouldn't we find it in space, in meteorites?
I doubt that sort of material would survive the heat experienced by a meteorite as it enters the earth's atmosphere... on the other hand, they said it was thought to be meta-stable, and in my understanding, that's a sort of delicate stability...so I don't think it will ever be found in space or on the surface of the earth. The material can only be formed through the humongous pressures present inside a planet... it wouldn't survive the violence of a volcanic eruption or the abrupt changes in pressure of earthquakes. Just my opinion, though.
 
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