Hydrogen(H), the simplest and most fundamental element of periodic table, only consists one proton and one electron. Naturally, Hydrogen is a gas at normal temperature but now scientists are able to transform this gaseous material into a solid metallic object by squeezing between two diamond anvil. It is believed that Hydrogen’s metallic might exist in gas planet Jupiter.

Physics Professor from Harvard University, Dr. Isaac F. Silvera and Postdoctoral researcher Ranga P. Dias started working on the theory which was predicted in 1935 by Physicist Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington. They also predicted that this stage hydrogen can act like a superconductor and conduct electricity. Their findings were first published in the Science journal.

Dr. Silvera said in a statement,”It's the first-ever sample of metallic hydrogen on Earth, so you're looking at something that's never existed before”. To obtain the metallic Hydrogen researchers put the Hydrogen between two diamond anvil and squeezed it 71 million PSI pressure which is more than the pressure at the Earth's core.

According to the report by Engadget, this new metallic state of Hydrogen is in ‘metastable’ state as solid. Metastability keeps atoms in a stable energy state even after removing external energy sources that means it could conduct electricity even after being cooled to room temperature.

Researchers faced some problems while doing the experiment, at higher pressure diamond’s surface gets cracked due to the counterforce by the hydrogen. They also used LASER to measure the pressure and confirm the presence of a metal.

Counterforce of Hydrogen and excessive heats caused by the LASER lead those diamond anvils to damage. To deal with those issues researchers fitted that anvil in a cryostatic cooling( a bit higher than absolute zero) stage. To eliminate surface irregularities, scientists also used a new diamond-polishing technique.

However, some researchers are not agreed with the result that it is the metallic stage of Hydrogen. They think it is the Aluminum Oxide which came from the tip of the anvil. Although, Dr.Silvera and his team had only one cryostat available to work with, so they didn’t comply any further research.

Researchers were worried about their system because more experiment could make it broken. But Silvera and his team are still confident about their findings. Silvera also added that their papers have been accepted then they would conduct more research on it.

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