Using the largest laser in the world, scientists have crushed a diamond with the amount of force that they believe exists in the core of the planet Saturn. That is 14 times more than the force at the center of the Earth.
Based on observations, scientists have suggested that diamonds can be found on many planets and on some there's even diamond rain.
To understand these alien environments better, scientists have crushed a diamond with the amount of force that they believe exists in the core of the planet Saturn.
That is 14 times more than the force at the center of the Earth.
Using the largest laser in the world, the experiment took place at the United States National Ignition Facility located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Researchers focused it and 175 other lasers on a millimeter size diamond that was held in an aluminum sphere about 32 feet large.
Diamonds are the hardest known material, but the force from the laser compressed it even further to be the density of lead.
Lead author of the study Doctor Ray Smith from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is quoted as saying: “We don't know what lies within the core of Jupiter or Saturn but now for the first time we now have the ability to study how matter exists under these extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.”
Crushing the diamond with intense pressure helps experts understand the formation of gas giant planets like Neptune, Jupiter and Saturn in our own solar system along with planets that exist in other parts of the universe.
