Okay so this is all based off a factoid of Jupiter I heard recently that the pressure on Jupiter makes the gas it’s comprised of feel like solid rock.
If this is actually the case, wouldn’t such pressure end up turning the elements into their solid states?
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It absolutely does turn solid.
Only the outer layers which aren’t under much pressure are gasseous. The lower layers progressively turn “solid” (not really solid, there’s more states of matter than just the basic 3)
Imagine a big, fluffy pillow. Now, think of that pillow getting squished and squished by something heavy. Even though it’s being squished a lot, it doesn’t turn into a rock.
Gas giants like Jupiter are like giant, fluffy pillows, but they’re getting squished by their own gravity, which is super strong. This squishing makes the gas really, really dense and under lots of pressure, but it doesn’t turn into a solid because it’s made of special gases that can stay as gas even when they’re squeezed a lot. So, Jupiter stays gassy, even under all that pressure!
The best theories of Jupiter’s interior suggest that beneath the clouds, the enormous pressures in the atmosphere force hydrogen into what is called a ‘supercritical state’ where it behaves like a gas *and* a liquid.
Deeper down, it becomes an ocean of liquid hydrogen. Here on Earth, it is really only possible to get liquid hydrogen at very low temperatures, but with Jupiter, liquid hydrogen can exist at temperatures of thousands of degrees because the pressure stops the molecules flying apart.
Even deeper into Jupiter, it stops being weird and starts getting REALLY weird. Under immense pressures; hydrogen turns into something resembling a liquid metal – unsurprisingly called metallic hydrogen. This stuff conducts electricity and because it is constantly churning and circulating inside the planet, it is responsible for generating Jupiter’s enormous magnetic field.
And beneath that, there is going to be a core of heavier elements including silicon, oxygen and iron; but I don’t believe anyone has any idea of just how big it would be. Not that we will ever see it.
The three phases, as taught in middle and high schools, are not nearly as neat and defined as they are covered. Especially when getting into “abnormal” conditions with high Temps and pressures. Even wilder is that most matter in the universe is in “abnormal” conditions, and the conditions that are enjoyed on the surface of the Earth are actually rare and abnormal, but that’s another discussion.
Anyways, the lines between solid, liquid, and gas are a lot fuzzier than they’re made out to be in school. In normal life, you may experience some fuzzy boundaries with amorphous solids. Glasses and polymers. Think putties and things like play dough, or clay. Ketchup in a bottle where it’s almost a solid and a liquid at the same time. Or, corn starch and water where it’s a liquid until you hit it, and then it’s almost like a solid. In more extreme conditions, it can get a lot fuzzier. Like, with water, you can have a triple point where the water is solid, liquid, and gas all the same time. The lines between liquid and gas can get so fuzzy that mathematically, they’re often treated together as a “fluid.”
Deep in Jupiter, the definitions of these phases as most people are familiar with break down. Usually, people think of gases being like air, liquids being like water (which is wild because water is way distinctly unique to most liquids), and solids being like a desk or a door. If you were falling down through Jupiter’s atmosphere, you’d be crushed and die, but if somehow magically you weren’t, then you would enter layers where it wouldn’t be clear to you if you were in a gas or liquid. The usual meanings break down as the pressure gets insanely high, and things get very hot.
The theory is that the interior of Jupiter is solid and liquid(metallic hydrogen). The outside is gaseous because it’s under lower pressure.
Not really what you are asking about, but here’s an alternate tale on what might be on Jupiter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Unintentional?wprov=sfla1
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