Thursday, June 20, 2013

Hydrogen: A Metal?

Had a bit of fun this morning playing with Scientific American's new interactive Periodic Table.

Most of the entries were spot-on, and the link-backs to Nature Chemistry's IYE series (now free!) certainly help a lot. Just one small quibble:


Doesn't that say "alkali metal?" Although I appreciate that might be true at incredibly high pressures (thanks, Dr. Eisen, for link), what about everyday, ordinary hydrogen gas?

Protons? Sure, they're sort of the classic metal-though-not-a-metal. But, to be fair, you can make lots of things behave like metals (see: O, Br, I, C, Si...) that normally wouldn't.

I'd love to hear some spirited debate in the comments, and appreciate any Sci Am editorial responses.

Update: Stu Cantrill sends over this Nature News article covering Eremets' and Troyan's work.

Neil Withers jumps in with a contradictory example, also from Nature.

1 comment:

  1. In the entry for antimony:

    "Fun Fact: A compound of antimony and fluoride is one of the most acidic known, with a pH of -31."

    A pH of -31, really? Shouldn't this be pKa?

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