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The phrase “core chemistry” is taking on a meaning that’s definitely not mentioned in the standard curriculum, and which in fact goes against chemistry dogma.
Computer simulations suggest that at pressures approaching those at Earth’s center, lithium atoms begin to interact not just through their outermost electrons as in traditional chemistry, but also through their “core” electrons — those closer to the nucleus.
In an upcoming Physical Review Letters, Stanimir Bonev of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada and his collaborators describe how they used a supercomputer to calculate the behavior of lithium at pressures above 1.5 million atmospheres and temperatures as high as 3,000 kelvins (about 2,700° Celsius).