Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

KaneHau t1_j5kk6zz wrote

Well, first, gas has mass - and in Jupiters case, it adds up to a lot of mass.

Second, Jupiter has pressure - huge pressure the further down you go - so yes, at some point there will probably be areas of metallic gasses, etc.

Whether there is a solid core or not is still unknown.

4

hatschi_gesundheit t1_j5kmkca wrote

We did see Shoemaker-Levy crash into Jupiter (any others?), so there are at least some heavier elements somewhere down there.

1

KaneHau t1_j5kn9oa wrote

Plenty of rocks crash into gas giants. The problem is they don't survive more than a mile or so before being completely broken apart by the extreme winds, temperatures and pressure.

So by the point you get, say, two miles down - there are really no large objects of any type. Instead you get bands, based on the pressure, where elements like to accumulate. But they would be more like a fluid than a solid.

1

hatschi_gesundheit t1_j5kxlev wrote

But would not the heavier/denser elements sink to the core eventually ? It might be a molten core or some other, more exotic aggregation state, but still. Certainly not a gas.

1

hackintoshfun OP t1_j5kkf0q wrote

That's what I mean is solid core.

0

KaneHau t1_j5kl0zo wrote

I was once lecturing along side a NASA scientist (I'm ex-NASA) and she was explaining the gas giants. Afterwards, I took her aside and said "considering the pressure of gas giants, and all the stuff falling in, doesn't it make sense that there is a solid core, even if tiny?".

She agreed that it does make sense.

However, technologically, we can't probe that deep yet (it's just too big with too many complex layers).

2

Kind-Truck3753 t1_j5kkctn wrote

The good thing about science is that it doesn’t care what you believe.

3

ObligatoryOption t1_j5kknq6 wrote

I believe that mass is made of cheese.

Your turn.

3

hackintoshfun OP t1_j5kl19a wrote

I believe there's a man on the moon dead.

0

KaneHau t1_j5klhtt wrote

If there is anyone dead on the moon, it would be a woman named Alice.

(You have to be pretty old to get that reference)

1