*throws up horns*

Please oh please oh please oh please oh please ...

I've been saying for ages that the whole world is waiting for a room temperature superconductor. This would likely be a step in the right direction ;)

farking Jupiter. How does it work?

/Theoretically

Subby, not bad. But I went away, came back, thought about it and decided that you should have used "Klink" instead of "Clink."

Just think of the flaming sword you could forge.

cretinbob: Well, Hydrogen is a metal after all......

Unless you're an astronomer.

Look, will this lead to me having an adamantium skeleton or not?

GAT_00: Uh, since when was it not likely?

Ever, its been theorized but other attempts haven't been successful.

And reading this, many metallic hydrogen researchers don't think this experiment has been completely successful.

That doesn't seem terribly useful, but I guess it's kind of a cool thing to have done. Can't say I've thought about it much, but I don't think it's even been a famous example of an unlikely outcome, though. According to the article theory has supported the formation of the conduction bands since forever.

Headline has a kernel of truth.

Harry_Seldon: Headline has a kernel of truth.

[www.thetrollhouse.net image 320x240]

Well done. +2 for including a self-referential "I think I saw what I did there" pic.

Huh. I remember Scientific American doing a cover article on diamond-anvil cells in the mid-80's, I thought they confirmed the metal state back then... They were finding all sorts of odd material science with DA cells.

I'm still waiting for transparent Al

FTA:

And if it is shown to be metastable, metallic hydrogen - being far denser than normal hydrogen - might make an efficient rocket fuel.

That's a mighty big "if," but fark rocket fuel (the reaction mass wouldn't change, and the mass of the storage apparatus is small in comparison). Fuel cells FTMFW.

jimw: I'm still waiting for transparent Al

Now would that be worth somethin to ye laddy?

Coincidentally, Hydrogen is my favorite drum sequencer for recording metal tracks.

acefox1: jimw: I'm still waiting for transparent Al

Now would that be worth somethin to ye laddy?

THAT has been around for awhile. Way back when we were still in Huntsville, the Ars'nal was putzing about with transparent aluminum viewports/windows for military vehicles.

In the olden days, they were using transparent aluminum oxide from Fraunhofer, I think it's more aluminum oxynitride (alon) that's popular these days.

Jim_Callahan: That doesn't seem terribly useful, but I guess it's kind of a cool thing to have done. Can't say I've thought about it much, but I don't think it's even been a famous example of an unlikely outcome, though. According to the article theory has supported the formation of the conduction bands since forever.

Is it too much to ask that you at least read the article?

The challenge of metallic hydrogen is alluring, partly because it has the potential for some exciting applications. Some believe studies of the material could lead to a room temperature superconductor, which would enable lossless power transmission. And if it is shown to be metastable, metallic hydrogen - being far denser than normal hydrogen - might make an efficient rocket fuel.

Baryogenesis: Jim_Callahan: That doesn't seem terribly useful, but I guess it's kind of a cool thing to have done. Can't say I've thought about it much, but I don't think it's even been a famous example of an unlikely outcome, though. According to the article theory has supported the formation of the conduction bands since forever.

Is it too much to ask that you at least read the article?

The challenge of metallic hydrogen is alluring, partly because it has the potential for some exciting applications. Some believe studies of the material could lead to a room temperature superconductor, which would enable lossless power transmission. And if it is shown to be metastable, metallic hydrogen - being far denser than normal hydrogen - might make an efficient rocket fuel.

Maybe he did and just feels that a new rocket fuel isn't terribly useful.

Rocket fuel, hell. You could use it as radiation shielding for long-duration space missions, manned or not.

ArcadianRefugee: Baryogenesis: Jim_Callahan: That doesn't seem terribly useful, but I guess it's kind of a cool thing to have done. Can't say I've thought about it much, but I don't think it's even been a famous example of an unlikely outcome, though. According to the article theory has supported the formation of the conduction bands since forever.

Is it too much to ask that you at least read the article?

The challenge of metallic hydrogen is alluring, partly because it has the potential for some exciting applications. Some believe studies of the material could lead to a room temperature superconductor, which would enable lossless power transmission. And if it is shown to be metastable, metallic hydrogen - being far denser than normal hydrogen - might make an efficient rocket fuel.

Maybe he did and just feels that a new rocket fuel isn't terribly useful.

Those room temperature superconductors are probably a waste too. What was I thinking?

Makh: Working under pressure gets results. Sounds cool but it might be room temperature.

I'm already working around the clock!

How would metallic hydrogen be significantly less volumetric than liquid hydrogen? I've never studied in this areas so maybe I'm grossly uninformed but I always assumed liquid to solid transitions varied in volume by only a few percent at most.

Arthur Ruoff! Had the great misfortune to take a class with that nut-job back in 1973 at Cornell U. Not saying he was a nut-job for looking for metallic hydrogen; he was a nut-job, period.

Fizpez: the article refers to "normal" hydrogen, not liquid hydrogen. Normal as in room-temperature. The article claims the metallic form was achieved at room-temperature, granted at millions of atmospheres.

natazha: Arthur Ruoff! Had the great misfortune to take a class with that nut-job back in 1973 at Cornell U. Not saying he was a nut-job for looking for metallic hydrogen; he was a nut-job, period.

Fizpez: the article refers to "normal" hydrogen, not liquid hydrogen. Normal as in room-temperature. The article claims the metallic form was achieved at room-temperature, granted at millions of atmospheres.

I got that but we already use liquid hydrogen as rocket fuel so, in an article that is logically consistent, the claim that it would make a great rocket fuel would seem to suggest it has some great benefit over things currently available - not that my sights for scientific journalism aren't set WAY too high it seems.

So, someone tell me this:

if metallic hydrogen is achieved, and the pressure is then removed, does it stay solid or sublimate like dry ice? Because at the pressures necessary to (theoretically) make it, it seems like it's going to be hard to use if you have to keep it pressurized.

Zumaki: So, someone tell me this:

if metallic hydrogen is achieved, and the pressure is then removed, does it stay solid or sublimate like dry ice? Because at the pressures necessary to (theoretically) make it, it seems like it's going to be hard to use if you have to keep it pressurized.

I think that's the "metastable" part. I understand there's some notion that it could be stabilized at STP, although I haven't the slightest clue how.

cretinbob: Well, Hydrogen is a metal after all......

No, it's not.

lohphat:

Now to just fine a whale....

Fine the whale? What did the whale do, I don't think they carry money, no pockets and all.

lohphat: jimw: I'm still waiting for transparent Al

Here you go: Aluminium Oxynitride. ^

Now to just fine a whale....


That's more like "Translucent Aluminum-Based Ceramic."

I was thinking that Scottie was referring to some allotrope of aluminum that was transparent.

Zumaki: So, someone tell me this:

if metallic hydrogen is achieved, and the pressure is then removed, does it stay solid or sublimate like dry ice? Because at the pressures necessary to (theoretically) make it, it seems like it's going to be hard to use if you have to keep it pressurized.

Yes it should sublimate. Not only that, the equipment needed to keep it at that pressure would weigh so much more there would be no efficiency savings. If hydrogen could exist as a stable metal at room temperature in normal pressure we would find it naturally on earth.

halB: Zumaki: So, someone tell me this:

if metallic hydrogen is achieved, and the pressure is then removed, does it stay solid or sublimate like dry ice? Because at the pressures necessary to (theoretically) make it, it seems like it's going to be hard to use if you have to keep it pressurized.

Yes it should sublimate. Not only that, the equipment needed to keep it at that pressure would weigh so much more there would be no efficiency savings. If hydrogen could exist as a stable metal at room temperature in normal pressure we would find it naturally on earth.

That is not necessarily true. There are many substances which are not naturally occuring on earth which can be placed into a metastable state.

Layman examples would be supercooled liquid water at standard pressure. In nature, impurities or irregularity allows a seed crystal to form and the entire solution crystalizes. But in carefully controlled conditions, you can produce water which will remain in its liquid state below freezing for an indefinite period of time.

While I admit that it is likely very difficult to produce conditions where hydrogen will remain solid at STP, lack of it occuring naturally is certainly no evidence of impossibility, only evidence that no natural process on earth is likely capable of producing metallic hydrogen.

And sometimes, it is sufficient to only be stable for a period of time. Consider Uranium. It is unstable and eventually decays into something else, yet we are able to utilize it, in fact, its instability is a property we exploit in itself.

halB: Zumaki: So, someone tell me this:

if metallic hydrogen is achieved, and the pressure is then removed, does it stay solid or sublimate like dry ice? Because at the pressures necessary to (theoretically) make it, it seems like it's going to be hard to use if you have to keep it pressurized.

Yes it should sublimate. Not only that, the equipment needed to keep it at that pressure would weigh so much more there would be no efficiency savings. If hydrogen could exist as a stable metal at room temperature in normal pressure we would find it naturally on earth.

Another similar example is Iron. In nature it is generally found in an oxidized state. Yet if stored in the absence of an oxidizing agent...

Fulminate touch explosives are examples though not bound by pressure.

The best common example of a semistable element at STP may be diamond. Carbon itself is not going to form a diamond at STP, but once it is subjected to extreme pressure and temp, its new crystalline structure will remain crystallized at STP for effectively forever.

Again, I don't see how pure hydrogen could be forced into a semistable structure, but that's not to say it can't be done.

Thanks for the responses, they're enlightening.