'Diamond rain' falls on Saturn and Jupiter

www.bbc.co.uk...

Diamonds big enough to be worn by Hollywood film stars could be raining down on Saturn and Jupiter, US scientists have calculated. New atmospheric data for the gas giants indicates that carbon is abundant in its dazzling crystal form, they say. Lightning storms turn methane into soot (carbon) which as it falls hardens into chunks of graphite and then diamond. These diamond "hail stones" eventually melt into a liquid sea in the planets' hot cores

wow DIAMONDS rain down on saturn and jupiter, would love to own one of those bad boys,
would we be able to send a space craft up and collect some of these precious stones?
imagine how expensive they would be, also is the atmosphere really that dense that it could crush and form carbon soot into graphite and diamond?

And finally in the words of Rhianna "shine bright like a diamond, beautiful like diamonds in the sky"

reply to post by anonymous1legion


I'm guessing that this is just a hypothesis, I don't think that they have been able to get any satellites to transmit what is down there from within their atmospheres yet. The interference within their atmospheres is very strong.

Makes a good read though. It could be right I suppose. I'd say more like nano particles though.

reply to post by rickymouse


Yep.

You can say it rains anything on Jupiter. Chocolate covered pink diamonds. Nobody will ever prove it wrong.

Well there goes the price of Diamonds...

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - The Beatles
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqXmBy1_qOQ
www.youtube.com...

I'm sure De Beers would have a good chuckle at this.

This just proves everyone should consider investing in interplanetary mining operations as soon as they go public.

If your skilled enough as an engineer might i recommend just developing the first remote mining ships?

reply to post by anonymous1legion


Sure you could send a space ship to collect these... If it were also made of diamonds.


I wonder what liquid diamond looks like

Is the atmosphere of the outer reaches of the planet somehow pressurized or how do these diamonds form without it?

My understanding is that heat and high pressure are required to make them here on earth. If these are truly diamonds and not some shimmering faceted carbon chunks (I made that up but assume that carbon can shine in the right atmosphere), just burn a spoonful of sugar and you may see some shimmering carbon.

For those that don't want to try this at home (should be done outside away from smoke detectors )take a peek at this link, particularly the picture of the granulated carbon in the jar.

Burning Sugar

So are they really diamonds falling on the planet, I tend to think not!

Just imagine though a hailstone that would pay for its own damage.

evc1shop
Is the atmosphere of the outer reaches of the planet somehow pressurized or how do these diamonds form without it?

My understanding is that heat and high pressure are required to make them here on earth. If these are truly diamonds and not some shimmering faceted carbon chunks (I made that up but assume that carbon can shine in the right atmosphere), just burn a spoonful of sugar and you may see some shimmering carbon...


...So are they really diamonds falling on the planet, I tend to think not!

They pressures 30,000km down deep in the atmosphere of Saturn and Jupiter is immense -- enough heat and pressure to turn carbon into diamonds. So that's why they think the diamonds are there.

I know you said you made up the "shimmering faceted carbon" part of your reply, but I'm not sure what you are getting at. The diamonds are not being "observed/seen". Rather, they are being hypothesized to exist there, considering there is enough carbon and enough heat and pressure deep in the atmosphere.

Soylent Green Is People

evc1shop
Is the atmosphere of the outer reaches of the planet somehow pressurized or how do these diamonds form without it?

My understanding is that heat and high pressure are required to make them here on earth. If these are truly diamonds and not some shimmering faceted carbon chunks (I made that up but assume that carbon can shine in the right atmosphere), just burn a spoonful of sugar and you may see some shimmering carbon...


...So are they really diamonds falling on the planet, I tend to think not!

They pressures 30,000km down deep in the atmosphere of Saturn and Jupiter is immense -- enough heat and pressure to turn carbon into diamonds. So that's why they think the diamonds are there.

I know you said you made up the "shimmering faceted carbon" part of your reply, but I'm not sure what you are getting at. The diamonds are not being "observed/seen". Rather, they are being hypothesized to exist there, considering there is enough carbon and enough heat and pressure deep in the atmosphere.

edit on 10/14/2013 by Soylent Green Is People because: (no reason given)

Soylent, I must apologize because I read this really fast,

New atmospheric data for the gas giants indicates that carbon is abundant in its dazzling crystal form,

and somehow thought the atmospheric data was an observation and not just some data collected and compiled into a hypothetical, not yet proven.

Thanks for the reality check!

anonymous1legion

www.bbc.co.uk...

Diamonds big enough to be worn by Hollywood film stars could be raining down on Saturn and Jupiter, US scientists have calculated. New atmospheric data for the gas giants indicates that carbon is abundant in its dazzling crystal form, they say. Lightning storms turn methane into soot (carbon) which as it falls hardens into chunks of graphite and then diamond. These diamond "hail stones" eventually melt into a liquid sea in the planets' hot cores

wow DIAMONDS rain down on saturn and jupiter, would love to own one of those bad boys,
would we be able to send a space craft up and collect some of these precious stones?
imagine how expensive they would be, also is the atmosphere really that dense that it could crush and form carbon soot into graphite and diamond?

And finally in the words of Rhianna "shine bright like a diamond, beautiful like diamonds in the sky"

Didn't someone here start a thread about covering their floor in diamonds once they were able to travel to other planets? Hmmm?

reply to post by anonymous1legion


Sonic Youth already predicted this...

Time takes its crazy toll
and how does your mirror grow
you better watch yourself when you jump into it
'cause the mirror's gonna steal your soul

I wonder how it came to be my friend
that someone just like you has come again
you'll never, never know how close you came
until you fall in love with the diamond rain

evc1shop
Soylent, I must apologize because I read this really fast,

New atmospheric data for the gas giants indicates that carbon is abundant in its dazzling crystal form,

and somehow thought the atmospheric data was an observation and not just some data collected and compiled into a hypothetical, not yet proven.

Thanks for the reality check!

edit on 14-10-2013 by evc1shop because: sp

No problem! Hopefully my response did not come across as cold/rude. I sometimes write so matter-of-factly that I only realize later after reading my responses that they could sound rude.

Soylent Green Is People

evc1shop
Soylent, I must apologize because I read this really fast,

New atmospheric data for the gas giants indicates that carbon is abundant in its dazzling crystal form,

and somehow thought the atmospheric data was an observation and not just some data collected and compiled into a hypothetical, not yet proven.

Thanks for the reality check!

edit on 14-10-2013 by evc1shop because: sp

No problem! Hopefully my response did not come across as cold/rude. I sometimes write so matter-of-factly that I only realize later after reading my responses that they could sound rude.

I write in the same manner sometimes, especially when I am writing while multitasking.
I usually read posts with a very open mind expecting that there may be some unpleasant responses as well as very good ones. For most posts, I sift though using my BS filter and take away the constructive parts throwing out any trolling or inciting remarks or context knowing how folks get carried away behind their keys creating posts with an edgy feel to them at times.
For me, your post showed me that I actually mistook the content I read to mean something it didn't. Regardless of any other tone, intended or not, that is what I was focused on.
No worries at all!

anonymous1legion
wow DIAMONDS rain down on saturn and jupiter,

If you're willing to go further than Jupiter, you can find an entire planet with the mass of Jupiter thought to be a giant diamond. Not just raining diamonds...the whole Jupiter mass planet is a diamond. I call dibs on it if DeBeers doesn't stop me from going, to maintain their monopoly.

Massive Diamond Planet Orbits Neutron Star, Astronomers Find

reply to post by Arbitrageur


How about a whole diamond star?

Stars of certain mass produce Carbon at the end of their fusion cycle. This creates a core of carbon which, as the star turns into a white dwarf and gradually cools down, crystalises and forms a diamond.
news.bbc.co.uk...
jumk.de...
en.wikipedia.org...

Diamonds are not rare on earth.

Google it.

There are artificially inflated.

This is probably just one of those news stories to come out every once in a while to make you "remember" why diamonds are so valuable... just like how the holocaust was so "horrible".

Seriously. Look it up.

WhatAreThey
Diamonds are not rare on earth.

Google it.

There are artificially inflated.

This is probably just one of those news stories to come out every once in a while to make you "remember" why diamonds are so valuable... just like how the holocaust was so "horrible".

Seriously. Look it up.

What you say about diamonds in new to me, so I looked it up.
"In the second half of the 20th century, substantial diamond discoveries were made in Russia, Australia and Canada, making it more difficult for De Beers to purchase all global production and influence diamond prices. The De Beers monopoly officially ended in 2001, following several lawsuits filed in U.S. courts alleging De Beers “unlawfully monopolized the supply of diamonds, conspired to fix, raise, and control diamond prices, and issued false and misleading advertising.” From 2000 to 2004 diamond prices declined as the last remaining De Beers stockpiles were depleted by new demand coming out of Asia." en.wikipedia.org...

As for the holocaust, are you denying that it happened, or simply implying that it wasn't horrible? Were the Jews (and many other groups of people) sent to stay in cozy B&Bs, not in concentration camps with gas chambers and electrified fences?

wildespace
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

How about a whole diamond star?

I think that's the same thing, because the video I posted said the Jupiter-mass diamond was the remnant of a star.

The diamond core is what's left of the star, and it's the mass of a large planet. Ordinary planets don't form into diamonds otherwise, that I know of, though they can form some percentage of diamond material as the OP suggests, but in the case of Jupiter, most of the planet is not diamond.

Wasn't this theorized back in the 70s?
I remember Arthur C Clarke writing about Jupiter having a diamond core in the book 2061: Odyssey Three.