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It rains solid diamonds on Uranus and Neptune
National Post ^ | August 25, 2017 | Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post

Posted on 08/25/2017 6:57:33 PM PDT by Loyalist

Researchers say they were able to produce 'diamond rain' using fancy plastic and high-powered lasers to recreate the intense conditions of the planets

....

Consider this your daily reminder that the solar system is even more awesomely bonkers than you realized: On Uranus and Neptune, scientists forecast rain storms of solid diamonds.

The gems form in the hydrocarbon-rich oceans of slush that swath the gas giants’ solid cores. Scientists have long speculated that the extreme pressures in this region might split those molecules into atoms of hydrogen and carbon, the latter of which then crystallize to form diamonds. These diamonds were thought to sink like rain through the ocean until they hit the solid core.

But no one could prove that this would really work — until now. In a study published this week in the journal Nature Astrophysics, researchers say they were able to produce this “diamond rain” using fancy plastic and high-powered lasers.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: carbon; diamond; diamondrain; diamonds; hydrocarbons; neptune; science; uranus
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Amazing what you can pull out of your...
1 posted on 08/25/2017 6:57:34 PM PDT by Loyalist
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To: Loyalist

De Beers now undertaking Death Star construction...?


2 posted on 08/25/2017 7:00:31 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: Loyalist; SkyPilot; Roman_War_Criminal; musicman

Sounds like a bling-bling paradise for Obama’s retirement along with his whole administration. For entertainment, they can take 1% Jay-Z and muscular Beyonce, too.


3 posted on 08/25/2017 7:03:22 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ....)
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To: Loyalist

All this time I thought Uranus had Klingons. Now we find out that Uranus has diamonds. Will wonders never cease?


4 posted on 08/25/2017 7:03:38 PM PDT by Enterprise (Do away with all symbols of past slavery. Start with the Democrat Party.)
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To: Loyalist
shhhhh, Al Bore is getting jealous.
5 posted on 08/25/2017 7:04:34 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country.)
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To: Loyalist

Be prepared for some cheeky responses!


6 posted on 08/25/2017 7:04:37 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (ObamaCare Works For Those Who Don't.)
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To: Loyalist

Yeah but my girlfriend still says the carat isn’t high enough. She wants the whole planet on her ring!


7 posted on 08/25/2017 7:04:39 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (We're right, you're wrong - that's the end of the argument.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Uranus?


8 posted on 08/25/2017 7:07:59 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Not my circus. Not my monkeys.)
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To: Loyalist

Ah...so that’s where women come from.


9 posted on 08/25/2017 7:08:14 PM PDT by deadrock
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

LOL. Carbon is cheap and the ability to make incredible diamonds has been demonstrated, and the flaws have been pretty much eliminated. Which pisses off the DeBeers monopoly :-)

Me, I prefer a beautiful stone I find hiking than anything in a jewelry store.


10 posted on 08/25/2017 7:08:50 PM PDT by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
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To: Loyalist

Ah yes, Uranus and Neptune were Zsa Zsa Gabor’s favorite planets.


11 posted on 08/25/2017 7:11:11 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Loyalist

That is not so impressive. I once saw Superboy turn a lump of coal into a diamond. Not only that but just by squeezing it in his hand, he polished, cut, and sized it perfectly for Lana Lang’s engagement ring.


12 posted on 08/25/2017 7:12:06 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I’ve never really been fond of diamonds - I like colored stones (my engagement ring was Topaz - oops! we were poor, so it’s actually Citrine!) - and I’ve always thought that the whole ‘Diamond Engagement Ring’ thing was a created social construct, designed to Make Money for someone.

Somebody even appears to have written a thesis about it:

http://ncf.sobek.ufl.edu/NCFE003838/00001


13 posted on 08/25/2017 7:12:48 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: All

All this time I thought they were peanuts! Better buy some more Preparation H....


14 posted on 08/25/2017 7:15:38 PM PDT by Klemper
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To: Loyalist

That’s the climate change Al Gore would like.


15 posted on 08/25/2017 7:17:34 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country.)
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To: Loyalist
The gems form in the hydrocarbon-rich oceans of slush

They must have a lot of dead dinosaurs on those planets

16 posted on 08/25/2017 7:20:01 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: Loyalist

May not be “Garbage” after all.

“Only Happy When It Rains”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esEdC0c3YI4


17 posted on 08/25/2017 7:20:44 PM PDT by Zeneta
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To: Jamestown1630

When we got married in 1973, I could not afford an engagement ring. That was OK as my wife had already picked out the whole set. She just bought it herself.

A few days before the wedding we went shopping for a new car. I knew she had maybe a thousand in the bank but since she had just graduated college, I wondered how she would finance it.

It turned out her favorite Uncle was president of the bank.


18 posted on 08/25/2017 7:21:46 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: yarddog

LOL! Lucky Man ;-)


19 posted on 08/25/2017 7:23:12 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Loyalist

Had no idea this song was about Uranus:

And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves
The haunted frightened trees
Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate
Driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

Bob Dylan - Mr. Tambourine Man Lyrics


20 posted on 08/25/2017 7:26:44 PM PDT by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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