[vulcan2.0]

   I want to know if it is possible to mix a gas like hydrogen with a metal like titanium. I think you could by using electrolisis. Also, my teacher told me about a theory that says that when you compress hydrogen enough it will become a metal. Is this theory plausible?

[Limpet Chicken]

Hydrogen can exist as a metal, although i  think its only metastable at room temperature, it's basically formed by having a core of liquid H in the middle of a long sealed tube, with two anvils either side that are blasted together with a HE charge.

I have always wanted a chunk of hydrogen metal, it would be such a fun element to play with, I also read somewhere that hydrogen forms two  isotopes above tritium, H4 and H5

And yes titanium can form hydrides of course, some metals like palladium and other platinug group  metals can absorb H without forming actual compounds, maybe titanium could to some extent although i am not sure.

Hope this helps.

[jdurg]

I think you may have allotropes and isotopes confused there.  Simple pressure and temperature changes aren't going to cause the nucleus of an atom to change.  (Unless it is MASSIVE pressure and temperature changes, in which case fusion may occur).  If an element is cooled and/or pressurized to extremes, then the possibility of a new allotrope forming is possible.  (See graphite -> diamond).  

[AWK]

Matallic hydrogen is an abstract concept. Scientist found experimentally that under high pressure and temperature hydrogen caoud conduct electrical current in the way as metals did.

But some metals easily dissolve hydrogen (eg. palladium). Hydrogen can also diffuse into solid metals because of small size om hydrogen molecules.

[vulcan2.0]

   I thought you could make an exta-light metal that would be fairly stable. I thought this could be done by fusing a metal with hydrogen or helium. Is this possible??? : :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Corvettaholic]

I think its mostly impossible to connect helium with anything, correct me if I'm wrong guys. Its so tiny and simple, with a full valence, its not going to want to react with anything.

[jdurg]

Helium is what you would call a completely inert substance.  I am not aware of any research which has resulted in Helium forming a compound with anything.  While fluorine gas will combine with some of the noble gasses under the right circumstances, helium is not a part of that group.  

[Corvettaholic]

The only thing I know of that you can get helium to combine with, is itself. Not too sure about that, maybe I'm thinking of neutron heavy helium instead...

But anyway, the fancy pants versions of helium is what supposedly is going to be used for fusion in the 'future'. I learned a lot about helium from doing google searches on fusion.

[Scratch-]

I think when you said that helium can combine with itself you were thinking of nitrogen, and the isotope of helium you were talking about is deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen. The product of hydrogen fusion is helium and that’s probably where you got mixed up.  

[Corvettaholic]

yeah thats it, I knew I had something backwards. But isn't one of the byproducts ³He?

[Scratch-]

I know that the byproduct of hydrogen fusion is helium but I don’t know what isotope it is if that’s what you mean.

[Corvettaholic]

Yeah thats what I meant, isotope. After the deuterium fuses, you have a helium atom with one extra neutron. Thats why (I guess) its ³He. But since each deuterium atom has an extra neutron, there's one extra after the fusion. Where does it go? Off to smack into something else and repeat the process. At least I think thats how its supposed to work. Sounds similar to fission to me, as far as the chain reaction part of it.

[Scratch-]

Neutrons cause stuff to fission, so its the heat released with the fusion that makes the chain reaction go.

[jdurg]

Actually, if two Deuterium atoms fuse, you'd get:

H² + H² = He⁴

[Corvettaholic]

From what I've read of fusion reactions, what supposedly happens is:

²H + ²H --> ³He + an extra neutron

And I'm pretty sure its that extra neutron is what helps speed up the rest of the fusion reaction. Keep feeding it deuterium and it'll keep fusing. A much better reactant is tritium, but thats hard to make. Have to some crazy stuff to lithium to get it.