On Earth, diamonds are expensive because of their rarity (and commercial hype), but on other planets, diamonds can be as common as rocks, such as the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States has carried out new experiments based on the internal environmental conditions and materials of ice giants, and successfully observed the formation of diamond rain. It is predicted that the size of diamonds on Neptune and Uranus may be very large and the weight can be as high as several million carats.
Scientists have long believed that there is a strange form of precipitation called “diamond rain” deep in the ice giant planet, and the extremely high pressure and temperature thousands of kilometers below the surface of the giant star will turn hydrogen and carbon into solid diamonds. Giant planets lack a solid surface, and the material becomes dense in the direction that the material falls toward the core, which means that over thousands of years, diamond rain may sink into the ground and collect around the core, forming a thick layer of diamond.
Now, scientists have found that hydrocarbons combined with oxygen, another element common to ice giants, are more likely to form diamonds, suggesting that diamond showers on Uranus and Neptune may be more common than thought, according to a new study from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. .
To replicate the process, the research team used an off-the-shelf source—PET plastic mixed with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen—to generate shock waves inside the PET with a high-power X-ray laser and observe the structural changes. They found that the atoms were arranged in diamond-shaped regions, and that oxygen accelerated the carbon. , hydrogen splitting, and promote the formation of tiny nano-diamonds with a density of 3.87 grams per cubic centimeter.
In addition, the research team found that superionic water, which conducts electricity, forms next to the diamond, which could explain the abnormal magnetic fields found around Uranus and Neptune.
The experiment could also lead to new ways of making nanodiamonds, with applications ranging from drug delivery, medical sensors, non-invasive surgery, quantum electronics, and more.
Although diamond rain is still a hypothetical theory, because we know very little about Uranus and Neptune, the most distant planets in the solar system, NASA is about to launch a large-scale exploration program for ice giant planets in the next decade. At that time, it may be possible to expect spacecraft to verify the diamond rain. exist.
The new paper is published in the journal Science Frontiers.
(Source of the first image: SLAC)
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