Metallic hydrogen

Conundrum, Thu Feb 02 2017, 06:18AM

Finally, took 495 GPa but Harvard may have done it.

Seems to be metastable, the catch is that to make that one precious Nobel-worthy sample was at the cost
of literally hundreds of failed attempts and broken diamonds.
On the flip side the procedure is well documented and can be possibly done at lower pressures using
silicon carbide modified in a similar way at low temperature with LiH6.

Intriguingly suggests that MH may actually
have existed in used (defunct) NiMH batteries and all this time been shielded from us by the nickel
casing. If they overcharge and vent the MH is lost but at least this means that waste EV packs
could be a valuable source of MH if reprocessed correctly.