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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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.
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