Extreme pressure reveals new phenomenon in atomic nuclei

Scientists have long believed that while an atom’s outer electrons are highly mobile and often behave somewhat chaotically, the inner electrons close to the nucleus are stable. They move steadily around the nucleus and stay out of each other’s way. But new research reveals that if the pressure is really extreme, like double that found at the center of the Earth, the innermost electrons of an atom change their behavior.

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This seems to be very early days. A report really on a WTF moment that is so important for the development of science. Compressed osmium exhibits a discontinuity at 440 gigapascals that standard theory can’t explain.

This article is so garbled that it makes me wonder what the real paper says.

“ Despite the extreme pressure, the outer, or valence, electrons behaved as normal, while the electrons in the atomic nuclei – which are normally predictable and tightly-bound to their nuclei – began to interact with one other. “

There are no electrons in the atomic nuclei.

“The portion of the research team from Bayreuth University in Germany developed synthetic diamonds that could fit between two ordinary diamonds and on each side of the osmium crystal.”