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Metallic hydrogen would be the ultimate fuel - if we can make it
The universe’s most common element could also be its most wondrous. Two different groups of researchers say they've made it - but can either claim withstand scrutiny?
TECHNOLOGY
25 January 2020
By THE_D_R_SINH
Max Alexander/Science Photo Library
WHO would have imagined that the world’s greatest wonder material could generate so much heat? Unfortunately, it isn’t the useful, thermal kind of heat. Or at least, not yet. After more than 90 years of attempts to create hydrogen in metallic form, the only verifiable output has been friction between those looking for it.
Being the first to produce metallic hydrogen would be a major achievement. So major that multiple groups of researchers have already claimed success. But their rivals are highly sceptical. The response to the latest claim, published in June, is typical. “This paper is much ado about nothing,” says Ranga Dias at the University of Rochester in New York. You might think that is harsh, but it is exactly what the authors of the new paper said about his own claim from 2017.
All this aggravation comes from the fact that the stakes are so high. Metallic hydrogen’s advocates claim that this version of the common element could revolutionise science and technology. For one thing, it could be a breakthrough rocket fuel, with its conversion back into molecular hydrogen releasing enormous amounts of heat. Then there are the big hopes of planetary scientists: the cores of gas giants like Jupiter are thought to be composed of the stuff. If we could make it in the lab, we might be able to understand how these planets form. Perhaps most enticing of all is metallic hydrogen’s rumoured ability to superconduct at room temperature, allowing electricity to flow without energy losses. For all …
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