Dr. Paul Sutter, a New York based astrophysicist and research professor.of Stony Brook University and the Flatiron Institute has a tantalizing theory for anyone who likes to learn about gems, space or both: according to him, it is “raining diamonds” on the surface of Uranus and Neptune.
According to IDEX Online, Sutter claims that “the water, ammonia and methane that make up much of the so-called icy planets are subjected to super-high temperatures and pressure on their mantles […] 200,000 times the Earth’s atmospheric pressure.” With methane, he explains, “the intense pressures can break the molecule apart, releasing the carbon. The carbon then finds its brethren, forming long chains.” These long chains then “squeeze together to form crystalline patterns like diamonds […].”
Both planets are billions of kilometers away from Earth, and the so-called diamond rain theory has been reached “through a combination of mathematical modeling and laboratory experiments.” Nevertheless, these models spark the imagination: “At first glance, Uranus and Neptune are just bland, boring balls of uninteresting molecules,” Sutter concludes, “but hiding beneath the outer layers of those worlds, there may be something spectacular: a constant rain of diamonds.”
