Image courtesy of Greg Stewart/SLAC National
Accelerator Laboratory.
Joel Kontinen
Uranus, and Neptune may have a constant
rain of diamonds. Uranus and Neptune are made
mostly of water, ammonia and methane, so that the rain is not water.
But that does not endure liFe.
“The carbon then
finds its brethren, forming long chains. The long chains then squeeze together
to form crystalline patterns like diamonds.”
On the planets, the
diamonds could presumably grow to be a lot larger than nano-sized.
“The dense
diamond formations then drop through the layers of the mantle until it gets too
hot, where they vaporize and float back up and repeat the cycle — hence the
term ‘diamond rain’ ”
Source:
Sutter, Paul, 2022, 'Diamond rain' on Uranus and Neptune seems likely. Live Science, 11
January,
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