I saw some random fact about planets and now I wonder if it is even physically possible to build something that is able to reach the core of a planet like Jupiter.
In: Planetary Science
At what point is a solid, a solid? It would just be a gas to a thicker mush to a liquid to an even thicker mud to a super viscous liquid and denser and denser
We don’t know. However, it’s worth pointing out phases aren’t exactly as cleanly seperable as we sometimes think of them because we often visualize standard conditions, like we have on earth. If it has a “solid” part, it’s likely less a surface and more a composition change in what is already extreme conditions we could never reach.
Jupiter is a gas giant with miles of clouds going towards the surface, then thousands of miles of gas that transitions into liquid. Underneath that? No clue if it’s solid.
If I remember correctly the Juno probe took scans of Jupiter that suggested that it might have a rocky core after all, and that its “mantle” equivalent, whilst still mostly hydrogen, may be super dense metallic hydrogen. Which would possibly explain the fact it has such a strong magnetic field despite not being understood to have a molten metallic core…
Falling Into Jupiter (Simulation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbn-tuYcScI
This video shows what you would see if you had a suit that could take the pressure and temperature. (All theoretical since no probes have been there yet.)
There is probably a solid core from planetary formation plus asteroids absorbed, there may even be metallic hydrogen in the gas giants https://youtu.be/b-gCfHXNIVc
Latest Answers