metallic form of hydrogen tagged posts

Artist’s concept (stock illustration). Credit: © Kerri McClellan / Fotolia

Scientists have recreated an elusive form of material that makes up much of the giant planets in our solar system, and the sun. Experiments have given a glimpse of a previously unseen form of hydrogen that exists only at extremely high pressures, >3 million times Earth’s atmosphere. Hydrogen – among the most abundant elements in the Universe – is thought to be found in this high-pressure form in interiors of Jupiter and Saturn.

Researchers around the world have been trying for years to create this form of the element, known as the metallic state, which is considered to be the holy grail of this field of physics. It was 1st theorised to exist 80 years ago...