Posted on 01/19/2010 6:54:40 AM PST by rface
Oceans of liquid diamond, filled with solid diamond icebergs, could be floating on Neptune and Uranus, according to a recent article in the journal Nature Physics.
The research, based on first detailed measurements of the melting point of diamond, found diamond behaves like water during freezing and melting, with solid forms floating atop liquid forms. The surprising revelation gives scientists a new understanding about diamonds and some of the most distant planets in our solar system.
.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
Thats gotta be pretty hard on Uranus.
Uranus in the Sky with Diamonds?
There was a Dr. Who episode that took place on a diamond planet!!!
Either this article is stupid, or I am, and I don’t rule out myself!
A diamond is carbon, right? Pure carbon? Carbon melts at high temps? How are such high temps generated so far away from the sun?
Couldn’t we say that the Earth is chock full of diamonds? Coal is carbon, just like diamonds.
Has De Beers already claimed the mineral rights?
Captain Kirk shot the Lizard Man with a cannon he mad and a diamond chunk as the cannon ball.....the Lizard Man was knocked down - but Kirk spared his life......I make my wife watch that episode with me sometimes....she rolls her eyes.
I know that episode. I think Kirk made a comment, before he figured out he could make a primative cannon, about how he would trade all those diamonds for some weapon.
Materials behave very differently at extremes of temperature and pressure. While Uranus may be far from the sun, the vast pressure of its gaseous atmosphere might mean that the melting point of the crystalline form of carbon is at a much lower temperature than here on Earth.
My guess is the diamonds would be found under Uranus’s thick atmosphere which would be a high pressure and temperature environment.
Uranus is crusty?
I’m rich and I didn’t even know it. Now I won’t have to have my gold fillings removed.
Kids, err I mean, Scientists say the darnedest things.
Someone say beer?
I love that pic! Look at the look on Sarko’s face. He can’t believe what an ignorant jerk zer0 is! He knows zero is “faible!”
More carbon footprint?
[While Uranus may be far from the sun, the vast pressure of its gaseous atmosphere might mean that the melting point of the crystalline form of carbon is at a much lower temperature than here on Earth.]
So, you are saying even though Uranus is where the sun don’t shine, the vast pressure of the gaseous atmosphere might lower the melting point of crystalline forms of carbon (like that Taco Bell burrito I ate) and liquefy it? Ruh Roh, I think I’m in trouble.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.