Diamonds Could Be Present on Neptune and Uranus
In the future, diamond jewellery could come from out of space. An article in the journal Nature Physics reports that oceans of liquid diamond filled with solid diamond icebergs might be floating on the planets Neptune and Uranus.
The research is based upon the first detailed measurements of the melting point of diamond. It has been discovered that diamond is like water during freezing and melting with solid forms floating on top of liquid forms. The report gives scientists a new understanding about diamonds and two of the most distant planets in the solar system.
It is difficult to measure diamond’s meting point as it is a hard material which is tough to melt. When diamond gets hot it physically changes into graphite then it melts into liquid. The scientists had to heat the diamond up and stop it from changing into graphite.
Eggert said, “Diamond is a relatively common material on Earth, but its melting point has never been measured. You can’t just raise the temperature and have it melt, you have to also go to high pressures, which makes it very difficult to measure the temperature.”
Ultrahigh temperatures and ultrahigh pressures exist on the gas giant planets Neptune and Uranus. Diamond oceans may be the reason why Neptune and Uranus have off-kilter orientation whilst Earth doesn’t.
Other scientists such as those from Sandia National Laboratories successfully melted diamonds in the past but couldn’t measure the temperature and pressure that the diamond melted at.
