World's Only Sample of Metallic Hydrogen Has Been Lost (ibtimes.co.uk)

New submitter drunkdrone quotes a report from International Business Times: A piece of rare meta poised to revolutionize modern technology and take humans into deep space has been lost in a laboratory mishap. The first and only sample of metallic hydrogen ever created on earth was the rarest material on the planet when it was developed by Harvard scientists in January this year, and had been dubbed "the holy grail of high pressure physics." The metal was created by subjecting liquid hydrogen to pressures greater that those at the center of the Earth. At this point, the molecular hydrogen breaks down and becomes an atomic solid. Scientists theorized that metallic hydrogen -- when used as a superconductor -- could have a transformative effect on modern electronics and revolutionize medicine, energy and transportation, as well as herald in a new age of consumer gadgets. Sadly, an attempt to study the properties of metallic hydrogen appears to have ended in catastrophe after one of the two diamonds being used like a vice to hold the tiny sample was obliterated. The metal was being held between two diamonds at a pressure of around 71.7 million pounds per square inch -- more than a third greater than at the Earth's core. According to The Independent, one of these diamonds shattered while the sample was being measured with a laser, and the metal was lost in the process.

Comments

Re:Fake News

[HornWumpus]

30 years obsolete. Once computer power grew to the point that they could model wings that flex, bumblebees were allowed to fly again.

Metastability

[painandgreed]

What I found most interesting about the article is that the guy they were talking to was actually considering that it might still be stable in solid form (and even stuck in the equipment) although also stated it might have just evaporated away. However, he also admitted that some think that they didn't even succeed and were actually getting readings off some aluminium used in the experiment. He says they'll just have to repeat the experiment to prove their case.

Re:Metastability

[chmod a x mojo]

I would love to be able to repeat some of my experiments for confirmation...

Tell me though, are you willing to pay for it? I need some more drill core from very specific depths, and the boring is right around a million dollars or more per hole - depending on the depths needed and how remote each location is. How many can you pay for? How soon can you get someone out there drilling?

Once you get the result you *want*, you then spend 100% of your time writing, publishing, hyping, funding, and publishing some more.

I can't deny that there are people like that in the sciences, but please, do tell me in what field are there NOT some kind of leech like people doing as little as possible for as much money as they can milk? MOST scientists are in it for the science, not glory / money / everything else you accuse us of.

Seriously?

[bistromath007]

It sucks that this was lost, because it's cool research.

Despite that, how goddamn stupid do you have to be to think this is a big setback for technology? You have to press it between two diamonds harder than they can stand it just to force it to continue existing. The consumer technology that might've fallen out of this will arrive in 2455 instead of 2450. Oh no.

Re:Fake News

[vtcodger]

"No chance in hell we will use metallic hydrogen due to pressures required."

Four minutes of intensive research on this subject leads me to believe that no one is quite sure whether metallic hydrogen is stable at room temperature and one atmosphere pressure. If it is, then it'd possibly be like diamonds and many other materials. Takes enormous pressure to make (at least by squeezing it), but once made is usable. BTW, there's apparently some chance that it might not only be stable, but the fabled room-temperature superconductor.