Question: Can an atom be 'compressed' in some ways under those huge pressures you are using in your simulations?

Lidunka Vocadlo answered on 16 Jun 2015:

@Chickenophile I’m not entirely sure I understand the question. But if you mean can atoms themselves be compressed, then yes. In an atom you have a nucleus (with protons and neutrons) surrounded by an electronic cloud (we don’t know exactly where the electrons are, but just where they are likely to be). As you compress a solid, this electronic cloud can distort. So in that way, one might say you are compressing an atom!