May 27, 2022• Physics 15, s69Researchers have uncovered a methane-hydrogen compound containing more than 50% hydrogen, a finding that could help scientists better understand the interior dynamics of planets, including Earth.
Mopic/stock.adobe.com
Mopic/stock.adobe.com
In the outer Solar System, methane- and hydrogen-based compounds are the most common small molecules aside from water, so their interaction in extreme conditions is interesting to scientists. Signatures of methane-hydrogen compounds have appeared in geoscience and materials science studies. But, despite the ubiquity of these substances, they have been experimentally ignored for decades. Now, Ross Howie from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and his colleagues have explored the properties of a variety of methane-hydrogen molecules, finding previously unobserved hydrogen-rich forms of these compounds…