Scientists melted a diamond and cracked a secret of ice giants
Physicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory successfully mimicked the extreme conditions inside ice giants like Neptune to observe diamond melting. This experiment helps resolve a long-standing scientific mystery and offers potential insights for fusion energy research.
Why it matters
Understanding these extreme physical processes provides critical data for planetary science and could advance the development of clean fusion energy technology.
edited by Lisa Lock , reviewed by Andrew Zinin
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Add as preferred source Artist's concept of the diamond target melting. Credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL Some of the strangest weather in the solar system doesn't happen on Earth or even in Jupiter's Great Red Spot—it happens in the interiors of ice giants like Neptune and Uranus. Specifically, scientists have long believed that, at certain pressures and temperatures, it literally rains diamonds inside these planets. For the first time, scientists have mimicked the process they believe creates this phenomenon.
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