A BREAKTHROUGH IN SCIENCE! Researchers Turn Hydrogen Gas Into Metal - Polidicks

[release] Today in relatively obscure but nonetheless meaningful scientific pursuits: two researchers at the Max-Planck Institute claim to have turned [URL="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-pair-hydrogen-metal.html"]hydrogen into metal[/URL]. That may seem unremarkable, but the fact is hydrogen--being an alkali metal--should exhibit the qualities of a metal under the right circumstances. Yet no one has ever coaxed the universe’s most abundant element into showing metallic qualities until now. Perhaps.This all depends on how you qualify the term “metal.” There are some boilerplate qualifiers: Metals should conduct electricity and heat somewhat well, they should be malleable to some degree, and it makes sense that they should exist as solids under some circumstances.[h=2]RELATED ARTICLES[/h][TABLE="class: related_nodes, width: 0"] [TR] [TD="class: image"][IMG]http://www.popsci.com/sites/all/themes/albert/images/50x50_bullet_point.png[/IMG][/TD] [TD="class: title"][URL="http://www.popsci.com/article/2007-09/technological-breakthrough-or-alchemy"]Technological Breakthrough or Alchemy?[/URL][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="class: image"][IMG]http://www.popsci.com/sites/all/themes/albert/images/50x50_bullet_point.png[/IMG][/TD] [TD="class: title"][URL="http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/jets-7200%C2%B0f-hydrogen-cut-through-granite-100-feet-hour"]Jets of 7200°F Hydrogen Cut Through Granite at 100 Feet per Hour[/URL][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="class: image"][IMG]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/related_info_thumbnail/articles/boeing-fuel-cell-plane-630.jpg[/IMG][/TD] [TD="class: title"][URL="http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2008-04/first-manned-hydrogen-powered-flight"]First Manned, Hydrogen-Powered Flight[/URL][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [h=2]TAGS[/h][URL="http://www.popsci.com/science"]Science[/URL], [URL="http://www.popsci.com/category/popsci-authors/clay-dillow"]Clay Dillow[/URL], [URL="http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/energy"]energy[/URL], [URL="http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/environment"]environment[/URL],[URL="http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/hydrogen"]hydrogen[/URL], [URL="http://www.popsci.com/taxonomy/term/50824"]materials science[/URL], [URL="http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/metals"]metals[/URL],[URL="http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/superconductors"]superconductors[/URL] But though many have tried, none have been able to make hydrogen behave like a metal under these criteria. Mikhail Erements and Ivan Troyan claim in a paper published in [I]Nature Materials that they’ve done exactly that.First, they placed some hydrogen in an alumina-epoxy gasket and placed that within a diamond anvil cell. This allowed them to test the opacity and electrical resistance of their sample via laser and electrodes, respectively. Then, at room temperature, they dialed the pressure up to 220 gigapascals, at which point their sample became opaque and began to show conductive properties. In the next phase of their experiment, they also dialed down the temperature to roughly -400 degrees while upping the pressure to 260 GPa. Here, electrical resistance increased by 20 percent. This, they claim, is hydrogen exhibiting metallic properties. Now, other researchers are going to have to replicate the se results before they can be described as truly meaningful. And then peer reviewers are going to have to hash out whether or not these qualities truly constitute “metallic” characteristics. What is most interesting is that they made hydrogen gas conductive at room temperature by applying pressure. Materials scientists have long been looking for superconductors that can move electricity over distances without losing so much of it as waste. Perhaps hydrogen was right there staring them in the face all along.[/release] [URL]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/researchers-turn-hydrogen-gas-metal[/URL] YES! YES! FUCK YES! [/I]

thought it was pretty clear already that hydrogen was metallic when under extreme amounts of pressure ie jupiter & saturn's core although this just proves it

260 GPa at 33K Wow they're going to be able to use this everywhere!

science is awesome

I wonder how hard Hydrogen metal is? and how light? could have thousands of uses. Even better, what if it acts like a super conductor?

I was hoping they had done some awesome transmutation shit. This is cool too.

So they made it "metalic" under extreme pressure and low temp. Not many practavle uses.

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;33311346]So they made it "metalic" under extreme pressure and low temp. Not many practavle uses.[/QUOTE] Fill submarine hulls with hydrogen and send them on deep sea exploration so the hull won't crumple?

[QUOTE=DireAvenger;33311352]Fill submarine hulls with hydrogen and send them on deep sea exploration so the hull won't crumple?[/QUOTE] I don't think water pressure gets up into the gigapascals.

Well now time to turn copper into gold.

[QUOTE=DireAvenger;33311352]Fill submarine hulls with hydrogen and send them on deep sea exploration so the hull won't crumple?[/QUOTE] I think if the ocean was 260 GPa and 33K it'd be ice

\m/

[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;33311413]I don't think water pressure gets up into the gigapascals.[/QUOTE] It doesn't get that cold, either. -400 degrees in american is ~-200 degrees celsius in metric.

Gonna get me one of those and build my secret underground WMDs using this. The only thing left is for them to make is oil out of hydrogen.

Stopped reading at 'claim to'

[quote]peer reviewers are going to have to hash out whether or not these qualities truly constitute “metallic” characteristics[/quote] It hasn't gone through peer review yet, so don't get your hopes up. It's still pretty cool though.

[QUOTE=Jookia;33311536]Stopped reading at 'claim to'[/QUOTE] Tony Abbot doesn't believe in science anyway.

[QUOTE=Jookia;33311536]Stopped reading at 'claim to'[/QUOTE] In a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal.

I thought hydrogen on earth was getting low because of refrigeration or am I getting that confused with something else? Why would we want to figure something like this out now if that is the case, just speeds up the process. ... I'm right about it being hydrogen and not something else right?

One always wonders what's up with hydrogen being surrounded by all those metals, yet not behaving like one. The more you know i guess. Not many practical uses. Still something interesting.

[QUOTE=TamTamJam;33311507]It doesn't get that cold, either. -400 degrees in american is ~-200 degrees celsius in metric.[/QUOTE]Popsci screwed up, it's 200 to 400 kelvin, not fahrenheit. [editline]00[/editline] So yes, the ocean does get that cold.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;33311484]I think if the ocean was 260 GPa and 33K it'd be ice[/QUOTE] I think it would actually be Ice X. [sp]Proton-ordered symmetric ice[/sp]

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33311470]Well now time to turn copper into gold.[/QUOTE] We've been able to do that for a while it's more a question of why we would want to do that

[QUOTE=PX1K;33311595]I thought hydrogen on earth was getting low because of refrigeration or am I getting that confused with something else? Why would we want to figure something like this out now if that is the case, just speeds up the process. ... I'm right about it being hydrogen and not something else right?[/QUOTE] Hydrogen is the most abundant matter in universe. No, it's not running low. You can take it out of fucking water.

[QUOTE=PX1K;33311595]I thought hydrogen on earth was getting low because of refrigeration or am I getting that confused with something else? Why would we want to figure something like this out now if that is the case, just speeds up the process. ... I'm right about it being hydrogen and not something else right?[/QUOTE] [quote]hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass.[/quote] If Hydrogen wasn't massive abundant, stars would have consumed it all in a matter of millennia, perhaps not even that.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33311470]Well now time to turn copper into gold.[/QUOTE] Also known as the end of the world as we know it. But apparently Newton discovered the formula for Philosopher's Stone, the alchemical holy grail. It's just that he was an ass and wrote all his notes in code. Also the fact that he was a master at the Royal Mint responsible for introduing the gold standard, and he didn't want any random dick to start turning his shit into solid gold. Someone call Dan Brown. I smell a bestseller.

[quote]The artificial production of gold is the age-old dream of the alchemists. It is possible in particle accelerators or nuclear reactors, although the production cost is currently many times the market price of gold. Since there is only one stable gold isotope, 197Au, nuclear reactions must create this isotope in order to produce usable gold.[/quote] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthesis_of_precious_metals[/url]

[QUOTE=DireAvenger;33311352]Fill submarine hulls with hydrogen and send them on deep sea exploration so the hull won't crumple?[/QUOTE] The only manned sub to reach the challenger deep was built in the 60's and it just used gasoline for buoyancy and steel for a pressure vessel. We could easily do it today with just Titanium but were lazy and lack adventure.

[QUOTE=OvB;33311957]The only manned sub to reach the challenger deep was built in the 60's and it just used gasoline for buoyancy and steel for a pressure vessel. We could easily do it today with just Titanium but were lazy and lack adventure.[/QUOTE] the government should fund it to create jobs subsidize the program by collecting deep sea flora and sell it to the rich for obscene amounts of money

[QUOTE=Contag;33311966]the government should fund it to create jobs subsidize the program by collecting deep sea flora and sell it to the rich for obscene amounts of money[/QUOTE] They're finally changing out the pressure sphere on the famous Alvin (and selling the old one). It will be able to go to depths exceeding the challenger deep after it's finished. Sometime around 2015 I want to say. As it turns out, making a giant hollow 5 inch thick Titanium sphere is not easy. Or cheap.