- 3677 - URANUS - where diamond rain is formed? Researchers mimicked the extreme temperatures and pressures found deep inside ice giants like Neptune and Uranus and, for the first time, observed diamond rain as it formed.
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--------------------- 3677 - URANUS - where diamond rain is formed?
- Researchers at Stanford University found that oxygen boosts could create exotic precipitation of raining diamonds, revealing a new path to make nanodiamonds here on Earth. “Diamond rain,” is a long-hypothesized exotic type of precipitation on ice giant planets, could be more common than previously thought?
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- Investigating this process in a new material that more closely resembles the chemical makeup of Neptune and Uranus is the next step. The Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory discovered that the presence of oxygen makes diamond formation more likely, allowing them to form and grow at a wider range of conditions and throughout more planets.
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- This study provided 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.
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- There have been quite a lot of experiments with different pure materials. But inside planets, it’s much more complicated; there are a lot more chemicals in the mix.
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- Starting with plastic. In one of the experiments, 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. In addition to carbon and hydrogen, ice giants contain other elements, such as large amounts of oxygen.
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- 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.
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- The researchers used a high-powered optical laser at the “Matter in Extreme Conditions” (MEC) instrument at SLAC’s “Linac Coherent Light Source” (LCLS) to create shock waves in the PET. They probed what happened in the plastic with X-ray pulses from LCLS.
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- Researchers recreated the extreme conditions found on Neptune and Uranus and observed the formation of diamond rain. Using a method called X-ray diffraction, they watched as the atoms of the material rearranged into small diamond regions. They simultaneously used another method called small-angle scattering to measure how fast and large those regions grew.
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- They were able to determine that these diamond regions grew up to a few nanometers wide. They found that, with the presence of oxygen in the material, the nano-diamonds were able to grow at lower pressures and temperatures than previously observed.
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- They predict that diamonds on Neptune and Uranus would become much larger than the nano-diamonds produced in these experiments, maybe millions of carats in weight. Over thousands of years, the diamonds might slowly sink through the planets’ ice layers and assemble into a thick layer around the solid planetary core.
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- In combination with the diamonds, superionic water might also form. This recently discovered phase of water, often described as “hot, black ice,” exists at extremely high temperatures and pressures.
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- In these extreme conditions, water molecules break apart and oxygen atoms form a crystal lattice in which the hydrogen nuclei float around freely. Because these free-floating nuclei are electrically charged, superionic water can conduct electric current and could explain the unusual magnetic fields on Uranus and Neptune.
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- The findings could also impact our understanding of planets in distant galaxies, since scientists now believe ice giants are the most common form of planet outside our solar system.
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- Earth’s core is predominantly made of iron, but many experiments are still investigating how the presence of lighter elements can change the conditions of melting and phase transitions. These elements can change the conditions in which diamonds are forming on ice giants.
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- A potential path forward is producing nanodiamonds by laser-driven shock compression of cheap PET plastics. These tiny gems could potentially be used for quantum sensors, medical contrast agents and reaction accelerators for renewable energy.
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- Experiments using liquid samples containing ethanol, water and ammonia, what Uranus and Neptune are mostly made of, which will bring them even closer to understanding exactly how diamond rain forms on other planets.
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- The fact that we can recreate these extreme conditions to see how these processes play out on very fast, very small scales. Duplicating here on Earth what happens on other planets. Amazing!
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September 11, 2022 URANUS - where diamond rain is formed? 3677
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