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/u/Astromike23 PhD in Astronomy explains the fascinating atmosphere and interior of Jupiter and why it really should be called a metal giant (old.reddit.com)

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[–]bahji 12 points13 points  (0 children)

That's pretty fucking metal

[–]Felinomancy 10 points11 points  (4 children)

A massive ocean / mantle of liquid metallic hydrogen

How can hydrogen be metallic?

[–]DOUBLEBARRELASSFUCK 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Look at a periodic table. Hydrogen is classified as a non-metal, but it's surrounded by metals. It's an exception, because of its weird properties. Condensed down, it acts like a metal, as you would normally expect. It's also an acid when ionized, unlike its peers in the same series, but that's a bit to be expected.

[–]Mactham 10 points11 points  (2 children)

Metallic in the materials science sense means that it has properties similar to metals, such as conducting electricity (hence the magnetic field).

[–]pieandablowie 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Well, that's confusing. Is it too late to change it?

[–]Gimli 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What for? Hydrogen is only metallic under incredibly difficult to create conditions that can be barely achieved in a high end laboratory.

Getting to the point where it's metallic requires an estimated pressure of almost 4 million atmospheres, which is nuts relative to anything humans deal with.

[–]IntellegentIdiot 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If it didn't the Jupiter Mining Corporation wouldn't exist