COMMENT: Jupiter and Saturn could be diamond-rich

If what astronomers are speculating is true, I'll pass on the trip to Mars and go directly to Jupiter where liquid diamonds may rain down from the sky.

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If what astronomers are speculating is true, I'll pass on the trip to Mars and go directly to Jupiter where liquid diamonds may rain down from the sky.

A gal can dream, can't she?

There are some practical considerations, of course. Chief among them is how to withstand the almost unimaginable pressures needed to turn carbon into diamonds and then liquefy them so that they fall like rain. What a lovely idea.

Two planetary scientists, Mona L. Delitsky of California Specialty Engineering in Pasadena, CA, mad Kevin H. Baines of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have postulated the liquid diamond idea. They combined their data with newly published pressure temperature diagrams of Jupiter and Saturn. That led them to determine at what interior level that carbon (generated from soot or graphite after lightning strikes) would become stable diamonds. They then did calculations to determine regions where both temperature and pressure would force diamonds to become liquid.

The idea of diamonds present in the heart of planets such as Uranus and Neptune has been around for 30 years. Now, with the latest information planetary scientists are confident that diamonds are very likely to exist on Jupiter and Saturn. Saturn, with a cold core, may host diamonds the size of icebergs. Jupiter, with a hot core, could provide conditions suitable for the flow of liquid diamonds.

Who is going to be our first diamond prospector in space?

To read more, go to UniverseToday.com/105420/jupiter-and-saturn-may-be-rich-in-diamonds/.

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