Uranus and Neptune May Have "Oceans of Diamonds"

Third Position writes "Oceans of liquid diamond topped with solid 'icebergs' of the precious gems could be on Uranus and Neptune. The first-ever detailed research into the melting point of diamond found it behaves like water during melting and freezing — with its solid form floating on the liquid. A large diamond ocean on one or both of the planets could provide an explanation for an oddity they both share: unlike Earth, they do not have magnetic poles that match up with their geographical poles." The article doesn't mention what the pressures might be like in these outer-planets environments, but the researchers found that liquefying diamond requires 40 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level.

Comments

vindication for bluegrass

[Trepidity]

Like many sci-fi authors who predicted inventions long before they became practical, bluegrass can now claim foresight into future scientific advances.

Re:Actually "Oceans of melted coal"

[wizardforce]

Normally when you try to melt a Diamond, the Diamond converts to graphite first and then melts. When the material freezes again, it isn't Diamond anymore. In the case of the article, the Diamond is under so much pressure that it no longer converts to Graphite before melting. When the liquid freezes again, it isn't Coal but Diamond.

Re:For the dull knives in the drawer

[wizardforce]

Bismuth, Silicon, Germanium and Gallium are all elements that have a solid phase that is less dense than their liquid phase. Acetic acid I hear is less dense in its solid phase but I haven't had a chance to verify this.

Re:Well, that's one way to get the space race movi

[the_humeister]

You know what else De Beers is peeved about? Man-made diamonds. They're cheaper and more ethical than anything De Beers can find in Sierra Leone.

What's Unlike Like?

[DynaSoar]

"...unlike Earth, they do not have magnetic poles that match up with their geographical poles."

Unlike Earth, neither does Earth. The Earth's south magnetic pole is presently about 25.6 degrees from the south pole. Granted, that's not 60 degrees, but apparently neither are theirs since according to TFA the magnetic poles on Uranus and Neptune "can be up to 60 degrees off the north-south axis", it they were, there's be no reason to say "can be".

There's no note regarding secondary poles on the giant planets like on the sun, but according the Oersted and Magsat satellite data and article in Nature in 2002 (416/8661, pp 620-623) there's an alternate pole developing in the South Atlantic west of South Africa. There's also a geomagnetic anomaly near Lake Baikal in Siberia that causes deflection in the magnetic field measured as far away as Japan, but there's no evidence (or none as yet) that it's a developing "alternate". But one's enough, when it comes to picking apart TFA. Not only is Earth unlike the Earth they compare against while constructing their theory, it's quite capable of being equal to the giants in its unlikeness in the complete absence of diamond seas with or without diamondbergs.

Re:Well, that's one way to get the space race movi

[afidel]

Actually it would be much smaller! There have been roughly 3.4B troy oz of gold mined, or about 116,000 short tons. 1 ft^3 = ~.5 short tons so ~58,000 ft^3 or ~1,642 m^3 or less than 1/4 your 8,000 m^3 cube =)

Re:For the dull knives in the drawer

[Artifakt]

Darkroom photography verifies this. 'Glacial' Acetic Acid is used in developing and fixing photographic film, and particularly silver halide based prints. Normally, it is kept heavily refrigerated between uses to slow evaporation and keep it at the right concentration, and it not infrequently gets cold enough for bits to solidify and float on top. Home photographers, who often left bottles sitting in their darkroom fridge for months, tended to notice sizeable bits more than pros who went through whole bottles in days, and it was some of these amateurs who tried thawing out just the frozen bits, and by proving they worked at the same speed in film processing, showed they were at least roughly the same concentration as the liquid chemical, and were not acetic acid depleted, near pure water ices.
    Of course, now that practically nobody actually develops film anymore, what was once well known chemistry for amateur hobbyists becomes unverified rumor to a new generation.

Re:Well, that's one way to get the space race movi

[bobdotorg]

Actually it would be much smaller! There have been roughly 3.4B troy oz of gold mined, or about 116,000 short tons. 1 ft^3 = ~.5 short tons so ~58,000 ft^3 or ~1,642 m^3 or less than 1/4 your 8,000 m^3 cube =)

Using your figures:

116,000 short tons.

1 ft^3 = ~.5 short tons

(insert cup of coffee here)

232,000 ft^3