Re:Superconductivity record sparks wave of follow-up physics
by ars on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @12:15AM
(#10077580)
> in a lab with a sample of H2S at 140 GPa. High pressure H2S has got to be a freakin' nightmare to work with.
They probably have absolutely tiny quantities of the stuff under pressure. Not enough to hurt anyone even if it escaped.
Re:Superconductivity record sparks wave of follow-up physics
by beloch on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @12:44AM
(#10077632)
Reading the arxiv preprint, they fed H2S into a DAC using a capillary. The size of the sample under pressure was 1um thick and 10 um in diameter, which is indeed tiny. So, that's probably not so bad. Anyone who thinks this would make a great room temperature superconductor in real applications had better smarten up though.
I've worked around high power free-space infrared lasers where a single stray reflection could instantly blind you permanently (and you can't see infrared light scattering off of stuff like you can with visible lasers). I'd rather spend years working with those than spend one afternoon in a lab with a sample of H2S at 140 GPa. I don't care if it's inside a diamond anvil cell inside a cryostat. High pressure H2S has got to be a freakin' nightmare to work with. I'm sure H2S has lots of funky properties nobody knows about because practically nobody wants to work with the stuff. Kudos to the PI who convinced a bunch of grad student peons to put their lives on the line... I suppose.