It exists in the depths of the gas giant planets.
Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element on earth, it accounts for three-fourths of the total weight of all mothers in the Universe.
It may seem that for all time of existence of science, scientists have learned about hydrogen is practically all there is to know at all.
However, this is the simplest chemical element, apparently, hides many secrets and mysteries. Not so long ago researchers from the Carnegie institution for science (Carnegie Institution for Science) has received a new strange form of hydrogen in which it only exists somewhere deep in the bowels of the gas giant planets like Jupiter. And this form of hydrogen is called “dark hydrogen” due to its unique properties.
Alexander Goncharov (Alexander Goncharov) from the Carnegie Institute and Stuart MacWilliams (Stewart McWilliams) from Edinburgh University have simulated in the lab the pressure present in the gas giant planets in the border area between the surface layer where there is a gaseous molecular hydrogen, and the core, where hydrogen is in the state “liquid metal”, so-called metallic hydrogen. Such pressure was created between the two tiny pads of the diamond anvils, which were leaning on each other and were heated to a high temperature by the light of a powerful laser.
This method is widely used by scientists to study the properties of different materials, placed under the influence of high pressure. And in this case, the researchers studied the properties of hydrogen under pressure in excess of normal atmospheric pressure from 10 thousand to 1.5 million times.
At one point during compression, the hydrogen is turned into something that is not reflected and not the transmitted light, which is why a new form of hydrogen called “dark”. This “dark” hydrogen is a transitional state between gaseous and metallic form of hydrogen, and it is very, very poorly able to conduct electricity.
The discovery of a new form of hydrogen, there are two important values for the area of planetary science. First, the high conductivity of this form of hydrogen may serve to explain how enough heat can easily penetrate from the area of the cores of giant planets in its outer layers and then leaves the planet, slouches into the abyss of outer space. And secondly, the electrical properties and conductivity “dark” hydrogen can explain some of the subtleties of processes of formation of magnetic fields of gas giant planets.
