In January 2017, a group of
scientists of Harvard University have made a big breakthrough in physics. They’ve
succeed to make what could be the rarest and the most valuable material on
Earth. The physicists Isaac Silvera, who has been working on this problem for
45 years, and Ranga Dias managed to transform hydrogen gas, element number one
of the periodic table, into a metallic state. To perform this amazing
scientific advancement, Silvera’s team first used two heavy-duty diamonds to
squeeze gaseous hydrogen and then lowered the temperature to -252°C so he could take its liquid
state. They then gradually increased the pressure until hydrogen finally took
its metallic form, at around 4,65 million atmospheres. “This is the holy grail
of high-pressure physics. It’s the first-ever sample of metallic hydrogen on
Earth, so when you’re looking at it, you’re looking at something that’s never
existed before.”, says Isaac Silvera.
Personally, I think this discovery is awesome because it could be use in
almost every domain. Metallic hydrogen is meta-stable, it means it would still
stay in this state if the pressure was removed. It is also a superconductor
which means it does not have electric resistance. Imagine wires made of this
material. We could transport energy across the country without any loss. I think
the day we’ll be able to use metallic hydrogen at high scale, will be
revolutionary for sciences.
“Live as if you were to die
tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
― Mahatma Gandhi
