We can make diamonds rain on Neptune

Yep, scientists figured out how to make it rain diamonds on the ice giant

By Smartasaurus· 1 min read Cosmic

Imagine standing in a rainstorm where the drops hitting your jacket…

Scale check

Gut call — how extreme does this actually get?

Reality tends to overshoot. Pick your ceiling.

The short version

Yep, scientists figured out how to make it rain diamonds on the ice giant
It gets weirder as you go deeper.
Some researchers believe that on Saturn, over 1,000 tons of diamonds are produced this way every single year.

What if the rain outside could pay off your mortgage? On Neptune and Uranus, the sky literally rains diamonds large enough to be held in your hand.

These gas giants are packed with methane. When lightning strikes or the pressure reaches a certain threshold, the carbon atoms in the methane get squeezed.

Deep in the atmosphere, the pressure is 1.5 million times greater than Earth’s surface. This force crushes the carbon into solid diamond crystals. These gems then drift downward through the layers of the planet like heavy, sparkling snow.

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