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posted by martyb on Tuesday February 28 2017, @08:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the location-is-up-in-the-air dept.

A metallic hydrogen sample that made the news recently has disappeared, possibly returning to its gaseous state:

Scientists achieved the "holy grail of high-pressure physics" last month, when physicists from Harvard University claimed they'd successfully turned hydrogen into a metal - something researchers had been struggling to achieve for more than 80 years. And not only had they made the material, but they were also the first to stably keep it in the lab, making it the only sample of metallic hydrogen anywhere on Earth. But now the team has bad news - the sample has disappeared.

The metallic hydrogen was being stored at temperatures around 80 Kelvin (-193 degrees Celsius and -316 degrees Fahrenheit), and at incredibly high pressures between two diamonds in a type of vice. But further testing around a week ago caused the diamonds to break and the vice to fail, and the researchers haven't been able to find a trace of the metallic hydrogen since.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's been destroyed - the sample was only around 1.5 micrometres thick, and 10 micrometres in diameter - a fifth the diameter of a strand of human hair - so it's possible it's stable somewhere and missing. But it's also a possibility that, once the pressure of the diamond vice broke, the hydrogen dissipated back into a gas, which suggests that the material isn't stable at room pressure - one of the material's predicted properties.

Previous coverage:
Harvard Researchers Report Production and Analysis of Solid Metallic Hydrogen
Solid Metallic Hydrogen, Once Theory, Becomes Reality -- or Maybe Not?


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by requerdanos on Tuesday February 28 2017, @01:40PM (12 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 28 2017, @01:40PM (#472768) Journal

    Dear Fiona MacDonald, author of TFA quoted in TFS,

    The metallic hydrogen was being stored... between two diamonds in a type of vice.

    ...the diamond vice broke...

    I like for those reporting on my science news to know the difference between "moral depravity or corruption [merriam-webster.com]" and "workbench tool for holding something [merriam-webster.com]". It's a basic reporting requirement, really, as science terminology is necessarily more precise than more general terminology.

    If an editor at your publication changed your correct wording to the nonsense above, please pass this note along to him or her. Thank you.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Flamebait=1, Insightful=1, Informative=2, Total=4
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 2, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:51PM (7 children)

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:51PM (#472816) Homepage

    I don't see the problem.

    between two diamonds in a type of [workbench tool for holding something].

    ...the diamond [workbench tool for holding something] broke...

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:55PM (6 children)

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:55PM (#472820) Homepage

      Guh. Well, you learn something new every day. I seem to have gone mumble-mumble years without having to use the word vise.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
      • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:58PM (5 children)

        by wonkey_monkey (279) on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:58PM (#472822) Homepage

        DAMMIT! Scratch that. Vice is the UK spelling of vise. I'm not a complete maroon this time!

        --
        systemd is Roko's Basilisk
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @06:35PM (4 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @06:35PM (#472948)

          American detected.

          • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday February 28 2017, @08:18PM (3 children)

            by wonkey_monkey (279) on Tuesday February 28 2017, @08:18PM (#473005) Homepage

            No, British, which is exactly why I couldn't see the original "problem."

            --
            systemd is Roko's Basilisk
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @10:29PM (2 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @10:29PM (#473077)

              And yet you can't even spell "moron" correctly, or were you referring to the shade of embarrassment your face would make?

              I'm joking by the way, can never be too careful with UK citizens these days!

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @11:15PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @11:15PM (#473107)

                What a ta-la-la goon-dee-ay

              • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday March 01 2017, @05:01AM

                by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Wednesday March 01 2017, @05:01AM (#473215)

                Maroon comes from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon.
                "What a maroon, what an ignoranamus!*

                --
                Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
  • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:28PM (#472839)

    Had you scrolled down on your first link, you would have found:

    chiefly British spelling of vise

    Now looking where the site is located, we find: [sciencealert.com]

    The ScienceAlert website at sciencealert.com (the “Site”) is owned and operated by ScienceAlert Pty. Ltd., a company registered in Australia […]

    OK, so BE doesn't necessarily apply. So let's do a short search for "australian spelling vice vise" to find [grammarist.com] very early on:

    Outside American English, the vise spelling rarely appears. The gripping tool is instead spelled vice.

    Australia is certainly outside American English. So "vice" clearly is not an error, but the correct spelling at the place where the publisher is located.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:58PM (2 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:58PM (#472861) Homepage
    I like for those commentating about science news on the internet to know the difference between US English and everyone else's English.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday February 28 2017, @06:18PM (1 child)

      by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 28 2017, @06:18PM (#472935) Journal

      I like for those commentating about science news on the internet to know the difference between US English and everyone else's English.

      That's certainly fair enough! My apologies to Fiona MacDonald and to my fellow soy-based lifeforms.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Tuesday February 28 2017, @09:52PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday February 28 2017, @09:52PM (#473063)

        No pressure to apologise. We wouldn't want you to turn metallic on us.