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{{Short description|Great force distributed over a small area}}
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{{Use American English|date=October 2025}}
In [[science]] and [[engineering]], the study of '''high pressure''' examines its effects on materials and the design and construction of devices, such as a [[diamond anvil cell]], which can create high [[pressure]]. ''High pressure'' usually means pressures of thousands ([[kilobar]]s) or millions ([[megabar]]s) of{{nbsp}}times [[atmospheric pressure]] (about {{convert|1|bar|kPa|abbr=off|lk=on|disp=or}}).

==History and overview==
[[Percy Williams Bridgman]] received [[Nobel Prize in Physics|a Nobel Prize]] in{{nbsp}}1946 for advancing this area of physics by two magnitudes of pressure ({{val|400|u=[[megapascal]]s}}{{nbsp}}(MPa) to{{nbsp}}{{val|40|u=[[gigapascal]]s}}{{nbsp}}(GPa)). The founders of this field include also [[Harry George Drickamer]], [[Tracy Hall]], [[Francis P. Bundy]], {{ill|Leonid F. Vereschagin|ru|Верещагин, Леонид Эмильевич}}, and {{ill|Sergey M. Stishov|ru|Стишов, Сергей Михайлович}}.

It was by applying high pressure as well as high temperature to [[carbon]] that [[synthetic diamond]]s were first produced alongside many other interesting discoveries. Almost any material when subjected to high pressure will compact itself into a denser form; for example, [[quartz]] (also called [[silica]] or [[silicon dioxide]]) will first adopt a denser form known as [[coesite]], then upon application of even higher pressure, form [[stishovite]]. These two forms of silica were first discovered by high-pressure experimenters, but then found in nature at the site of a [[meteor impact]].

[[Chemical bonding]] is liable to change under high pressure, when the {{math|P * V}}{{nbsp}}term in the free energy becomes comparable to the energies of typical chemical bonds at around {{val|100|ul=GPa}}. Among the most striking changes are metallization of [[oxygen]] at{{nbsp}}{{val|96|u=GPa}} (rendering oxygen a [[superconductor]]), and transition of [[sodium]] from a nearly-free-electron metal to a transparent insulator at{{nbsp}}{{approx|tilde=y|{{val|200|u=GPa}}}}. At ultimately high compression, however, all materials will metallize ({{xref|see [[metallization pressure]]}}).{{zwj}}<ref>{{cite journal|title = The Chemical Imagination at Work in Very Tight Places|journal= [[Angewandte Chemie International Edition]] | publisher= [[Wiley-VCH]] | trans-journal= Applied Chemistry International Edition | doi=10.1002/anie.200602485|pmid= 17477335 |volume=46|issue= 20 |pages=3620–3642|date = 4 May 2007|last1 = Grochala|first1 = Wojciech|last2= Hoffmann |first2= Roald |last3= Feng |first3= Ji |last4= Ashcroft |first4= Neil W. |id= {{CODEN|ACIEF5}} |issn= 1433-7851 |eissn= 1521-3773 }}</ref>

High-pressure experimentation has led to the discovery of the types of minerals which are believed to exist in the [[deep mantle]] of the Earth, such as [[silicate perovskite]], which is thought to make up half of the Earth's bulk, and [[post-perovskite]], which occurs at the [[core-mantle boundary]] and explains many anomalies inferred for that region.{{citation needed|date = May 2009}}

==Pressure "landmarks"==
* Typical pressures reached by large-volume presses: up{{nbsp}}to {{val|30|-|40|ul=GPa}}
* Pressures that can be generated inside [[diamond anvil cell]]s: {{approx|tilde=y|{{val|1000|u=GPa}}}}{{zwj}}<ref>{{cite journal|url= |title = Terapascal static pressure generation with ultrahigh yield strength nanodiamond|journal = [[Science Advances]]|publisher = [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]|volume = 2|issue = 7|article-number = e1600341|doi = 10.1126/sciadv.1600341|pmid = 27453944|date = 20 July 2016|last1 = Dubrovinskaia|first1 = Natalia|last2 = Dubrovinsky|first2 = Leonid|last3 = Solopova|first3 = Natalia A.|last4 = Abakumov|first4 = Artem|last5 = Turner|first5 = Stuart|last6 = Hanfland|first6 = Michael|last7 = Bykova|first7 = Elena|last8 = Bykov|first8 = Maxim|last9 = Prescher|first9 = Clemens|last10 = Prakapenka|first10 = Vitali B.|last11 = Petitgirard|first11 = Sylvain|last12 = Chuvashova|first12 = Irina|last13 = Gasharova|first13 = Biliana|last14 = Mathis|first14 = Yves-Laurent|last15 = Ershov|first15 = Petr|last16 = Snigireva|first16 = Irina|last17 = Snigirev|first17 = Anatoly|pmc = 4956398|bibcode = 2016SciA....2E0341D|issn = 2375-2548|lccn = 2014203143|oclc = 892343396|bibcode-access = free|doi-access = free }}</ref>
* Pressure at [[center of the Earth]]: {{val|364|u=GPa}}
* Highest pressures ever achieved in [[shock wave]]s: over{{nbsp}}{{convert|100,000|GPa|TPa|order=flip|abbr=out|lk=in}}{{zwj}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Achieving high-density states through shock-wave loading of precompressed samples |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |doi=10.1073/pnas.0608170104 |pmid=17494771 |volume=104 |issue=22 |pages=9172–9177 |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.9172J |pmc=1890466 |id={{CODEN|PNASA6}} |issn=0027-8424 |eissn=1091-6490 |lccn=16010069 |jstor=00278424 |oclc=43473694 |date=29 May 2007 |last1=Jeanloz |first1=Raymond |last2=Celliers |first2=Peter M. |last3=Collins |first3=Gilbert W. |last4=Eggert |first4=Jon H. |last5=Lee |first5=Kanani K. M. |last6=McWilliams |first6=R. Stewart |last7=Brygoo |first7=Stéphanie |last8=Loubeyre |first8=Paul |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==See also==
* {{anl|Metallization pressure}}
* {{anl|Synthetic diamond}}
* {{anl|D-DIA}}
* {{anl|Extreme pressure additive}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Hazen|first1=Robert M.|author-link=Robert Hazen|title=The New Alchemists: Breaking Through the Barriers of High Pressure|date=1993|publisher=[[Times Books]]|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8129-2275-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/newalchemists00robe|oclc=1150816525|id={{ARK|ark:13960/t6h173t03}}|lccn=93015703|ol=26486578M }}

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[[Category:Materials science]]
[[Category:Pressure]]