Posted on 02/26/2017 8:33:17 PM PST by BenLurkin
Harvard scientists triumphantly announced that they'd created metallic hydrogen last month, but now it's suddenly gone.
Scientists hailed it as the “holy grail” of high pressure physics when they finally produced it in the lab: metallic hydrogen, a century after it was first theorized to exist. And now that sample, which had been held in a hyper refrigerated laboratory, has vanished into thin air, and scientists can’t figure out why.
Reports indicate that the metallic hydrogen had been kept between a vice of two diamonds at huge pressures while being stored at 80 Kelvin, but something happened in the lab and the diamonds broke. Now, the metallic hydrogen, which was 10 micrometers in diameter, has disappeared. It’s possible that it’s simply right under their noses, but there’s also a possibility that it has turned back into a gas.
(Excerpt) Read more at morningticker.com ...
maybe it evaporated?
Aliens or Russians?
Never mind, turns out it was Warren Beatty.
“The same thing happens to my Häagen-Dazs ice cream. I put a container in the freezer and the next day it just vanishes. I asked my wife and she agrees it is a complete mystery.”
Post of the day!
“For what applications?”
Well, lets say you have two diamonds in a vice in a fridge and you don’t want them to touch. That’s one. Maybe - if you can get it to work.
I’m guessing like a lot of things, the discovery is made, and then the great minds come up with ways to use them. Although this sounds like it was much more intentional - and they already have their reasons.
From the net:
“Metallic hydrogen is one of the holy grails of modern science. It would essentially be a magic material, creating everything from impossibly fast computers to hovering cars (themselves powered by hydrogen) to batteries that never need charging.”
I’m guessing the fast computers would be that the metal is just one small atom in a chain - making it a very good transmitter (fast) of electrical signals???
Did anyone check out Yale?
They may have “had it” long enough to get the next couple of years of grants, and after they were in the bank, whoops!
Never mind the metal, are the diamonds safe?
Uh, maybe duplicate the experiment...I.e, do it again?
Then, do about 5 repeats, then tell the world about it.
Scientific method perhaps?
They will find it when someone slips on it and falls. ;)
Climate Science, strikes again!
Best watch those hydrogen balloons around the birthday cake candles.
Look for the researcher suddenly talking in a squeaky voice.
loosen your tie, undo your top button and go grab a cup of coffee... take a few deep breathes as well. it will be ok...
Along with millions of socks every year......
I’d check with the Chinese students…….
“vanished into thin air”
I think that’s called “evaporation”.
Did anyone see a Rose Quartz in the area?
“Scientists”??? Right. It sounds like scammers after more grant money from the taxpayers.
... and when he came back, the Super-rare metal had mysteriously vanished.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.