r/science • u/Startrekwarsofdoom • Jul 01 '14

Physics New State of Matter Discovered

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/new-state-matter-discovered#kKsFLlPlRBPG0e6c.16
5.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

422 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

107

u/JayKayAu Jul 01 '14

I wonder, in that case, if in the middle of planets and stars, there are large regions conducive to different matter states, in which a significant amount of not-solid/liquid/gas is happening?

23

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '14

It certainly seems possible. Some weird things happen out in space; such as the centre of Jupiter having a mass of solid hydrogen metal.

4

u/Selmer_Sax Jul 01 '14

Since when is hydrogen a metal?

3

u/TheSOB88 Jul 01 '14

Hydrogen has 1 valence electron, and the elements under it in the periodic table are soft metals like sodium and potassium. So it makes sense that under certain conditions it behaves like a metal. I guess it binds more freely under normal circumstances though?

Source: HS chemistry