Comments on: Could Jupiter and Saturn Contain Liquid Metal Helium?

By: Imprecator

Imprecator — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:44:50 +0000

Very sad. I always thought the core of Jupiter was made of carbon, a giant set of carbon under pressure, the size of Earth, a huge diamond…

By: Igor

Igor — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:57:42 +0000

I always thought that Jupiter releases
energy through gravitational contraction

Igor

By: MJG

MJG — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:34:31 +0000

So is that what the monolith is made from?

By: dipankar bera

dipankar bera — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:34:03 +0000

If really there is liquid in Jupiter & Saturn then can we carry out from threr to earth ? And if it can be done then fuel problem may be solved.

By: R2K

R2K — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:46:03 +0000

"Phillipo is on the right track. Send a spacecraft/probe to Uranus or Neptune to orbit the planet and drop a probe into the atmosphere ala Galileo at Jupiter to see what happens at a deeper level."

Too much pressure and heat.

"I'm not a conspiracist and I thought that you article on the "Lucifer Project" was very sensible but isn't all that Plutonium going eventually to end up at the very center of the planet? I'm more worried about damaging life forms that we have no concept off."

Those materials wont make it to the core intact: they will shred on the way down and disperse. The volume of Saturn is HUGE HUGE HUGE. The RTG material will be like a drop in the ocean (actually less).

By: alfchemist

alfchemist — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:06:04 +0000

the comet that slammed into jupiter is a clear indication of seeding of heavy elements into the core. I could only guess that this has not happened only once and not only recently. It could be going on for eons and possibly during the early stages of the gas giant

By: alfchemist

alfchemist — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:55:32 +0000

It would be appreciated if the original paper be cited. So many details are not mentioned for full appreciation. Surely, the possibility of other elements present in the inner core is worth looking into and the implications this would have when these mix with helium and hydrogen at high pressures

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:19:40 +0000

Hi All

The interior modelling of the gas giants is always uncertain to a certain degree. Some models show Jupiter to be fully convective with all its constituents stirred and mixed because it was too hot for a distinct core to settle out. Saturn is definitely in possession of a core, but just what it is in bulk is currently educated guesswork. Recent supercomputer studies of water ice at extreme pressures indicate that Uranus and Neptune have hearts of 'hot ice' wrapped around their cores, themselves composed of "post-perovskite" which is a high-pressure version of that Earthly mantle material.

The interesting thing about this new work is that the two elements form an alloy with totally new properties – seems ultra-pressure chemistry has more surprises yet!

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:59:45 +0000

Metallic helium wouldn't absorb neutrinos would it? Nice source of energy. And the think of the shadow it would cast.!

By: Richard Diaz

Richard Diaz — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:23:17 +0000

On Complete Cosmos, they say the interiors of the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn have 5 large layers. Gaseous hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, metallic hydrogen, rock, and an iron core. I wonder how large the iron core is in Jupiter. So Jupiter and Saturn's magnetic fields should each indeed have a complex quadrupole structure like Duncan Lunan said. Maybe the rocky core doesn't have a different rotation period compared to the iron core. I believe there is helium in those hydrogen layers too, since it's the second most abundant element. I think the reason why the rock is not above the metallic hydrogen and helium, because rock is solid at zero pressures, so the atmospheric pressures that condense the hydrogen and helium condense the rock even more, keeping it closer to the center and then the rock is condensed by the pressure of the metallic hydrogen and helium too. But the metals like iron are always beneath, even the rock. The only object where iron is the outer layer and not the inner layer is a neutron star. Black holes too, if you believe there is a dense star at the center. Uranus and Neptune are ice giants, because they are mostly made of ice. The first large layer is liquid hydrogen and not gas. Possibly because the temperature is so low. Below that instead of metallic hydrogen, it's a mantle of ice. Then the rock, then the metal. Neptune is the densest of the gas planets. 1000 lbs on Neptune would weigh less on Jupiter. I wonder if it's possible to build a probe that wouldn't be crushed by the time it reaches the mantle of ices. Uranus would be the best bet, since there is no internal heat source like Neptune does. Plus, Uranus is less massive than Neptune. Although it's 4 times the diameter of Earth and 14 times Earth's mass, 1000 lbs on Earth wouldn't weigh as much on Uranus. But who knows what the atmospheric pressure would be by the time the probe reached the icy mantle?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:35:46 +0000

If we're looking to study the cores of gas planets in our solar system, we need do nothing more than dissect Rush Limbaugh.

NASA, I'm waiting for my job offer.

Great article by the way.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:16:53 +0000

Let's make some.

By: Duncan Lunan

Duncan Lunan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:08:30 +0000

As I understand it, Jupiter's magnetic field is generated in its outer core, hitherto thought to be hot liquid hydrogen, which is conducting,but surrounds a metallic hydrogen lattice inner core which isn't – and that's why Jupiter's magnetic field has a complex quadrupole structure offset from the axis of rotation. Saturn's core is rock and metal which is conducting. So the conducting hydrogen-helium mix could exist around those cores and be growing with time, so preserving the heat-generating mechanism.

By: RL

RL — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:03:03 +0000

Great article. It makes me want to find my chemistry and physics books!

By: Sleepy

Sleepy — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:51:32 +0000

I'm not a conspiracist and I thought that you article on the "Lucifer Project" was very sensible but isn't all that Plutonium going eventually to end up at the very center of the planet? I'm more worried about damaging life forms that we have no concept off.

By: Alphonso Richardson

Alphonso Richardson — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:29:48 +0000

Well it sounds odd, but actually, not entirely surprising. Remember, quantum physics lies at the heart of many processes, (not least how computers work), but it's very nature runs counter to our experiences in the macroscopic world.
Pushing procesess to their extremes (almost) invariably produces odd or counter-intiutive actions.
Granted, there are a LOT of 'ifs' with this, but it does sound very exciting

By: marcellus

marcellus — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:20:37 +0000

Phillipo is on the right track. Send a spacecraft/probe to Uranus or Neptune to orbit the planet and drop a probe into the atmosphere ala Galileo at Jupiter to see what happens at a deeper level.

Uranus and Neptune don't have the crushing pressures that Jupiter does and by delving into those smaller gas giants, we could get an insight into a body of more mass.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:35:24 +0000

If you looking for an "alternate power source": I suggest you strongly consider that the Helium3 isotope could be an excellent radiological solution at the core of all our Jovians.

more research into this rare isotope could explain how these Joavians may work like a cooler fission nuclear reactor, being exploited similarly to the russian Tokamak design.

maybe mother nature already has created the Tokamak and we call them Jovians.

the fact that it is "slightly less reflective"than Mercury also explains one possible mechanism for why Saturn and Neptune seem to radiate approximately 2.5 times as much energy as they receive from the sun. Its like a mirror at the core.

By: Phillipo

Phillipo — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:14:17 +0000

Very Cool… Seems to me there were quite a lot of IFs in that story? I think we still have a lot to learn about the Gas planets in our solar system..

I think it would be really cool if we could do some sort of submarine type ship to enter one of these atmospheres one day (even Neptune or Uranus would be fine). I've never really read a good explanation of what any of their interiors are like (except for the theory above perhaps)?

By: Ian O'Neill

Ian O'Neill — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:13:39 +0000

Nooo! I was worried about that, I should have said: "…and no, the liquid helium cannot be used in the construction of self-aware robots." In fact, I need to start putting disclaimers at the bottom of some of these articles in case I inadvertently spawn Lucifer Project 2!

Lol.

Cheers, Ian

By: David R

David R — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:03:58 +0000

In the year 2019 a company called Skynet will launch a nuclear powered supercomputer that will penetrate the Jovian core. The supercomputer will become self-aware in the year 2020 and will launch an unprecedented offensive against the human race. The offensive will consist of liquid metal T-1000 series "Terminator" machines, otherwise known as the real Lucifer project. However, the project will be thwarted by the "12 Angry Scientists Coalition," an elite team that will resign from the Mars Phoenix Lander Project after an angry dispute over Perchlorate. Their fury, along with the support of millions of sympathetic, folk singing hippies, will save the world. Let us unite and huddle warmly over the next conspiracy theorist fire.