Record high pressure squeezes secrets out of osmium
Monday, August 24, 2015 - 11:50
in Physics & Chemistry
An international team of scientists led by the University of Bayreuth and with participation of DESY has created the highest static pressure ever achieved in a lab: Using a special high pressure device, the researchers investigated the behaviour of the metal osmium at pressures of up to 770 Gigapascals (GPa) - more than twice the pressure in the inner core of the Earth, and about 130 Gigapascals higher than the previous world record set by members of the same team. Surprisingly, osmium does not change its crystal structure even at the highest pressures, but the core electrons of the atoms come so close to each other that they can interact - contrary to what is usually known in chemistry.