Myth Busted : Does it Rain Diamonds in Uranus and Neptune?!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /></div> Neptune is made up almost entirely of methane and carbon, with some nitrogen in the atmosphere. The atmosphere around Neptune is thick, and its size is such that many scientists have stipulated that it may rain diamonds on Neptune. Of course, we have no proof of this, and it may well be nonsense, but it is perfectly scientifically possible for this to happen. Neptune is technically a "gas giant", but, in reality, it is closer to being an "ice giant", as in Uranus. The pressure built up on the surface of Neptune has resulted in most of the gases being compressed into solids, and some liquids (there are two things that can change the state of matter; temperature and pressure), and so it seems logical that some of the carbon in the planet could be compressed into diamonds. <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y0jtYUjzQ2f7BBNy5O1Idp5_EKPoDUjgTySJffxy95sy_Z8gkn3UYgVzLZJZo1A8E1CqcfTViInDMB_v9oC52hNrPd_SO4ka6igX9w1txp9DwBaRWSJt_p5Jtz81NkNKoCVhWlStrLo3/s1600/sig08-006_Sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y0jtYUjzQ2f7BBNy5O1Idp5_EKPoDUjgTySJffxy95sy_Z8gkn3UYgVzLZJZo1A8E1CqcfTViInDMB_v9oC52hNrPd_SO4ka6igX9w1txp9DwBaRWSJt_p5Jtz81NkNKoCVhWlStrLo3/s1600/sig08-006_Sm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> It is worth noting that, even though there is sufficient carbon on Neptune for diamonds to be created, and there is pressure enough to turn carbon solid, carbon has many solid forms, including diamond, graphite and even fullerenes, all created from carbon, and different because the atoms are arranged differently. Diamond is the most difficult to create, due to the MASSIVE MASSIVE amounts of force needed to force the bonds between the carbon atoms to form that way, although this does make diamond almost indestructible. <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Y12o8QipuBPkHoc6lmsHu2-pY7ZzmZ8OWUNvl29L4IzTKLbj5gYuzH-64_GuctETLSeC4Ory-EJL3cUGk37zFhc_Ou_wWVCnLtNx6ScqVUjig-SJbhNFXQYuPFCAxCBe2-HLQegf8Qo7/s1600/sparkling-water-54410442244_xlarge.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Y12o8QipuBPkHoc6lmsHu2-pY7ZzmZ8OWUNvl29L4IzTKLbj5gYuzH-64_GuctETLSeC4Ory-EJL3cUGk37zFhc_Ou_wWVCnLtNx6ScqVUjig-SJbhNFXQYuPFCAxCBe2-HLQegf8Qo7/s1600/sparkling-water-54410442244_xlarge.jpeg" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> In conclusion, I personally think that there may be very small diamonds buried deep in the inner layers of Neptune, but I think it is unlikely that they form in the atmosphere and rain down, because, as you probably know, the pressure increases the deeper into a planet you go, as does the heat. This is due to the proximity to the super-hot solid core, and added weight of all the outer layers. These kind of conditions cannot be replicated in the gaseous atmosphere of a planet, rendering the creation of diamonds there very unlikely. </div>

Myth Busted : Does it Rain Diamonds in Uranus and Neptune?!

Unknown 0 Sunday, March 16, 2014

Neptune is made up almost entirely of methane and carbon, with some nitrogen in the atmosphere. The atmosphere around Neptune is thick, and its size is such that many scientists have stipulated that it may rain diamonds on Neptune. Of course, we hav… Read more »

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