On 18/10/2020 08:45, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
No it was theorised that Metallic hydrogen, which occurs at huge pressures
should have zero resistance. It just means that in a lab somebody managed to
do that for long enough to be pretty sure they were right.

Metallic hydrogen is still in the realms of computational simulation
with only very slim experimental evidence as yet. It also requires a
diamond anvil and working pressures above 3M bar.

The problem with the room temperature is that there is randomness in the
internal structure, we see as resistance. The two ways to reduce random
fluctuations is by getting to absolute zero or great pressures, effectively
squeezing out the ability for the atoms to move at all. Might be handy for a
wire running through thats core I guess, but there is a small snag there!

They think that experimentalists may have seen the analogous phase to
graphite if the latest papers are to be believed:

https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemist...imental/98/i35


--
Regards,
Martin Brown