In an experiment designed to mimic the conditions deep inside the icy giant planets of our solar system, scientists were able to observe "diamond rain" for the first time as it formed in high-pressure conditions. Extremely high pressure squeezes hydrogen and carbon found in the interior of these planets to form solid diamonds that sink slowly down further into the interior.
The glittering precipitation has long been hypothesized to arise more than 5,000 miles below the surface of Uranus and Neptune, created from commonly found mixtures of just hydrogen and carbon. The interiors of these planets are similar—both contain solid cores surrounded by a dense slush of different ices. With the icy planets in our solar system, "ice" refers to hydrogen molecules connected to lighter elements, such as carbon, oxygen and/or nitrogen.
Researchers simulated the environment found inside these planets by creating shock waves in plastic with an intense optical laser at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) instrument at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's X-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). SLAC is one of 10 Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science laboratories.
Formation of diamonds in laser-compressed hydrocarbons at planetary interior conditions (DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0219-9) (DX)
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A new study has found that "diamond rain," a long-hypothesized exotic type of precipitation on ice giant planets, could be more common than previously thought.
In an earlier experiment, researchers mimicked the extreme temperatures and pressures found deep inside ice giants Neptune and Uranus and, for the first time, observed diamond rain as it formed.
[...] The new study provides a more complete picture of how diamond rain forms on other planets and, here on Earth, could lead to a new way of fabricating nanodiamonds, which have a very wide array of applications in drug delivery, medical sensors, noninvasive surgery, sustainable manufacturing, and quantum electronics.
In the previous experiment, the researchers studied a plastic material made from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon, key components of the overall chemical composition of Neptune and Uranus. But in addition to carbon and hydrogen, ice giants contain other elements, such as large amounts of oxygen.
In the more recent experiment, the researchers used PET plastic – often used in food packaging, plastic bottles, and containers – to reproduce the composition of these planets more accurately.
"PET has a good balance between carbon, hydrogen and oxygen to simulate the activity in ice planets," said Dominik Kraus, a physicist at HZDR and professor at the University of Rostock.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:41PM (2 children)
Something something Lucy in the sky...
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:24PM (1 child)
... stays dry while others feel the pain ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @10:39PM
lucy, if ur anus is tight enough to make diamonds, let's be friends.
(Score: 2) by BananaPhone on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:31PM (3 children)
"refers to hydrogen molecules connected to lighter elements, such as carbon, oxygen and/or nitrogen."
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:34PM (1 child)
Maybe they meant "lighter-than-iron" elements [wikipedia.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:39PM
It is confusing, but I think you are right that they meant, "connected to OTHER lighter elements."
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday August 24 2017, @12:58AM
Since diamonds are a solid this would be snow, not rain. Possibly hail.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Funny) by DECbot on Wednesday August 23 2017, @09:20PM (4 children)
So, when blood diamonds aren't expensive enough, you can have diamonds mined from the icy giants in the outer solar system.
mcgrew, I could see the premise of a novel here. The banking cartel offers
a poor sapthe protagonist forgiveness of his overwhelming outstanding debts in exchange for 20 years of indentured servitude on a diamond mining rig above Uranus. Unless you write about aliens or ancient artifacts, the story could be how he beat the survival odds and is the first person to return from the outer solar system mining rigs back to Earth and the complications of 20+ years of living in zero-G or centrifugal generated gravity. You're free to use the idea, just throw my username in the acknowledgements in a limerick or something.cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @11:22PM (1 child)
That's insane. If the price is low and you throw more stuff on the market the price won't go up, so why bother?
(Score: 2) by Post-Nihilist on Thursday August 24 2017, @12:31AM
Cause the diamond market is crazy so usage and provenance affect the price as much if not more that supply and demand
Be like us, be different, be a nihilist!!!
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday August 24 2017, @03:46AM
s/expensive/inexpensive
The admitted blood diamonds are the cheap ones, people pay extra to avoid them.
But even the cheap ones are way overpriced.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rohin-dhar/diamonds-are-bullshit_b_3708562.html
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Monday August 28 2017, @09:13AM
As coincidence would have it, I recently read a SF story about mining diamonds from Saturn: Diamond Dogs [wikia.com], by Mike Tucker.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @09:37PM
So they mean hydrogen + carbon = methane (CH4) or something similar, hydrogen + oxygen = water (H2O), hydrogen + nitrogen = ammonia (NH3).
(Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday August 23 2017, @10:38PM (1 child)
What are we waiting for????!!! Mining mission time! I wan't mine the crap out Uranus... for diamonds of course.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Thursday August 24 2017, @08:49AM
You'll probably only find Klingons on Uranus.