Science@SEAS

Evidence of a first-order phase transition to metallic hydrogen

Episode Summary

We may have glimpsed liquid hydrogen abruptly changing into metallic hydrogen, which is the same stuff in the core of Jupiter.

Episode Notes

Earlier this year, in an experiment about five-feet long, Harvard University researchers say they observed evidence of the abrupt transition of hydrogen from liquid insulator to liquid metal. It is one of the first times such a transition has ever been observed in any experiment. Read the full story here.