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1 Diamond oceans on Uranus and Neptune
1 Month Ago - Saturday, February 6, 2010 vote unvote 1 hits
DR EMILY BALDWIN
High pressure experiments that mimic conditions on the icy gas giants show that chunks of diamond can float on a sea of liquid carbon.
The research provides the first detailed measurements of the melting point of diamond, the hardest natural material known, and the finding that could also help explain the strange orientation of Uranus and Neptune's magnetic fields.
The existence of pure carbon in the interiors of these giant planets has gained both experimental and theoretical support in recent years, and understanding the high pressure and temperature behaviour of carbon is essential to predicting their evolution and structure. Current theories speculate that Neptune and Uranus have solid cores surrounded by an icy mantle of water, ammonia and methane ices.
