Is it possible to squeeze Hydrogen so hard that it turns into a metal? Harvard University Physicists said they did just that.
Still a ton of skepticism about this, but if they’ve done it and it is stable, then it’s very, very cool indeed.
True. I want to see them repeat the experiment a few more times.
Two words: cold fusion.
I wonder if it will drive up the price of diamonds? Imagine the demand for all that superconducting material…
Industrial grade diamonds aren’t priced as expensively as those used for jewelry so there’s no direct relationship.
Also, a large part of diamond pricing is due to the influence of world diamond cartels like DeBeers. And even then, if the level of oversupply is excessive as it has been recently, even they must lower prices:
https://www.ft.com/content/9f937268-c35b-11e5-808f-8231cd71622e
A different scientific field, but highly related issue.
"Labs trying to repeat published experiments often can’t.
That’s not to say that the original studies are wrong. But the results of a review published Thursday, in the open-access journal eLife, are a sobering reminder that science often fails at one of its most basic requirements — an experiment in one lab ought to be reproducible in another one."
I’ll keep my eyes on this site…
I’m not even sure reproduction is the problem here–the original paper is just maddeningly vague and doesn’t really include any proof other than the researchers’ claims that the previously liquid hydrogen became “shiny.”
Not all that glitters is… metallic H. 