Could you believe It’s raining diamond? Yes, the imagination comes true. Scientists say not on planet Earth but icy giant planets like Uranus and Neptune. Although the concept of diamond rain is an old concept, this is the first time it has been observed in a laboratory to happen. Recently, the concept is published in Nature.
So, what are you thinking? One day if it is possible to travel to Neptune, you will go, fill up your bag with diamonds, comes back to earth, and becomes the next billionaire. Well, I would recommend you to read our this article on diamond rain on Neptune before start dreaming.
How does the structure of Neptune form diamond rain?
Neptune is the 8th planet in our solar system. Being so far away heat and light of the sun, Neptune is cold, dark, and icy. At its heart, the solid core is about one and a half times the size of earth, making up about 45% of the planet’s mass.
The core is made up of water, ice, and silicate rock. The rest of the planet is believed to be the complex pressurized ocean of water, methane, and ammonia ices surrounded by a layer of clouds. This cloud is made up of hydrogen and helium and includes traces of methane which gives the ocean world its rich and blue color.
In a recent experiment scientists duplicate the conditions similar to icy giant planets like Uranus and Neptune and they observed the diamond rain for the first time to be formed. earlier they tried the same thing in the lab but as the diamonds were very unstable it was not observed in real-time. But, this time with the help of some advanced machinery scientists was able to observe the diamond rain.
“The earlier paper was the first time that we directly saw diamond formation from any mixtures,”
Siegfried Glenzer, director of the High Energy Density Division at SLAC
The credit for this new discovery goes to the scientists of the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They also found that diamonds are more likely to be formed on many other planets in the presence of oxygen with carbon and hydrogen.
Neptune and Pluto have similarities with the planet out of our solar system. So, it could be hypothesized that this diamond rain will be in the other parts of the universe.
Unbelievable! Plastic creates diamond
It was already hypothesized that the methane present in the intermediate layer of Neptune (or other cold giant planets) forms hydrocarbon chains. Those hydrocarbon chains at a particular pressure and temperature form the glittering precipitation.
Now, the team of scientists observed that the plastic of common water bottles called PET has a similar structure that could be used to form the environment of Neptune or Uranus.
So the scientists used the high-power optical laser to generate two shock waves with a combination of temperature and pressure.
The presence of oxygen helps the formation of Nanodiamonds more easily. Today’s researchers believe that most of the planets in the universe are in an ice giant state and so there could be a good probability to observe the diamond rain everywhere.
Importance of Diamond Rain:
It sounds great when we talk about the discovery of something new in space. But, how does this discovery impact our planet’s life?
Yes, diamond rain discovery can impact our life.
There is a new trend in science called the concept of nanoparticles. As the diamond nanoparticles are created from a very easy-to-have material, PET. These nanoparticles could be used for drug delivery in medical research.
Not only that, there is much more utilization of nanodiamonds in the research of medical censors, non-invasive surgery, and quantum electronics.
Using laser rays for the formation of nanodiamonds is another new concept of physical science.
Which planet has diamond rain?
Uranus and Neptune in our solar system have diamond rain. But, a recent study proves that diamond rain is present all over the universe. It is common on planets out of our solar system.
The planet that rains jewelry- which planet it is?
The planet that rains jewelry means the planet with diamond or gold rain. Recently scientists found that the planets Uranus and Neptune have diamond rain or you can say the jewelry rain in simple language.
Nutshell:
The utilization of PET plastic for the formation of diamonds is the game-changing concept scientists found during this diamond rain experiment. A new method of diamond nanoparticle formation is developed. Although we don’t know whether we will be able to bring some diamonds from Neptune to earth, we know that this concept would help us to invent many other things.