6 ms·

Hmmmm, I'm not a physicist but I've long suspected that Jupiter has a metallic hydrogen core.

by Randor 7y ago

flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
Hydrogen (being the least massive of all known elements) would not accumulate in the core. Lower mass elements would be displaced by higher mass elements like uranium, thorium, gold, platinum, etc...
- londons_explore 7y ago
  That depends how dense metallic hydrogen is...
  - fnord77 7y ago
    ϱ = 0.076 g/cm3 vs. water = 1.0 g/cm3
- Randor 7y ago
  Hmmm, Well you might want to go over to wikipedia and correct the articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_core https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_core Like I said, I am not a I'm not a physicist or astrophysicist, I am just a software engineer. But in 2017 when I attempted to model the interior of gas giants... my model predicted a core surrounded by high density regions. The model resembled a close-packed lattice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-packing_of_equal_spheres https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-packing_of_equal_spheres I was just playing around with math so I am probably wrong. Best Wishes, -David Delaune
- pdonis 7y ago
  Only if the higher mass elements are present in sufficient quantity. It is quite possible that they aren't on Jupiter. Or that there is indeed a core of heavy elements at Jupiter's center, but an envelope of liquid metallic hydrogen surrounding it. That envelope would still be denser than the gases that make up the part of Jupiter we can see.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Hydrogen is the universe's most abundant element. Its abundance on a given body is a function of that overall abundance, and the gravitational pull of the body in question. At Earth's mass, free hydrogen (and helium) don't persist as the molecular speed exceeds Earth's escape velocity, and these gasses gradually bleed off into space. (The Earth is thought to have lost about a quarter of its original water through this mechanism over 4.5 billion years.) At Jupiter's scale, its ability to hold on to hydrogen, and the overall prevalence, dominates. Yes, there's probably some dense rocky / metallic core at the absolute centre, but Jupiter's core itself is thought to be substantially composed of extremely high-pressure hydrogen. Why that's thought is an interesting question, though my understanding is that it's largely based on Jupiter's known diameter, its known mass (determinable through orbits of its moons), and chemical properties (including density). This is conjecture and may be wrong.

Hmmmm, I'm not a physicist but I've long suspected that Jupiter has a metallic hydrogen core.

by Randor 7y ago

Hmmmm, I'm not a physicist but I've long suspected that Jupiter has a metallic hydrogen core.

Hydrogen (being the least massive of all known elements) would not accumulate in the core. Lower mass elements would be displaced by higher mass elements like uranium, thorium, gold, platinum, etc...

londons_explore 7y ago
That depends how dense metallic hydrogen is...
- fnord77 7y ago
  ϱ = 0.076 g/cm3 vs. water = 1.0 g/cm3
Randor 7y ago
Hmmm, Well you might want to go over to wikipedia and correct the articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_core https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_core Like I said, I am not a I'm not a physicist or astrophysicist, I am just a software engineer. But in 2017 when I attempted to model the interior of gas giants... my model predicted a core surrounded by high density regions. The model resembled a close-packed lattice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-packing_of_equal_spheres https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-packing_of_equal_spheres I was just playing around with math so I am probably wrong. Best Wishes, -David Delaune
pdonis 7y ago
Only if the higher mass elements are present in sufficient quantity. It is quite possible that they aren't on Jupiter. Or that there is indeed a core of heavy elements at Jupiter's center, but an envelope of liquid metallic hydrogen surrounding it. That envelope would still be denser than the gases that make up the part of Jupiter we can see.
dredmorbius 7y ago
Hydrogen is the universe's most abundant element. Its abundance on a given body is a function of that overall abundance, and the gravitational pull of the body in question. At Earth's mass, free hydrogen (and helium) don't persist as the molecular speed exceeds Earth's escape velocity, and these gasses gradually bleed off into space. (The Earth is thought to have lost about a quarter of its original water through this mechanism over 4.5 billion years.) At Jupiter's scale, its ability to hold on to hydrogen, and the overall prevalence, dominates. Yes, there's probably some dense rocky / metallic core at the absolute centre, but Jupiter's core itself is thought to be substantially composed of extremely high-pressure hydrogen. Why that's thought is an interesting question, though my understanding is that it's largely based on Jupiter's known diameter, its known mass (determinable through orbits of its moons), and chemical properties (including density). This is conjecture and may be wrong.