Thursday, January 26, 2017

Metallic Hydrogen? Really!!

Silvera et al., Science
We all learned in school that hydrogen, the simplest of all elements (one proton, one electron), is a gas - lighter than air, and abundant in the universe.  In fact the early universe was only hydrogen, but that's another story.  But years ago scientists speculated and theorized that under the proper conditions (very cold temperatures and high pressure) hydrogen could become a metal - yes, a metal.

Well, more than 80 years after it was first predicted, physicists have actually created metallic hydrogen - a mysterious form of hydrogen that could be capable of superconducting electricity without resistance at room temperature.  Really amazing stuff considering that this is something that has never existed before!

Read the complete story over at Science Alert.

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