• JohnDClay
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    3 days ago

    I’ve heard a theory that there’s solid metallic hydrogen at the core from the absolutely immense pressure, but it hasn’t been confirmed.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Jupiter would have certainly had countless rocky, icy, and any other category of asteroid fall into it over the last several billions of years, so it’s not all hydrogen.

      And I’m not sure if solid is the right word. It’s denser than solids we’re used to, but it’s not necessarily making any bonds between nearby atoms, so they might flow to some degree.

      Though even if is solid at some point, it won’t necessarily be a sudden change from gas to solid or even gas to liquid to solid. The pressure is so high it might be more of a gradient than a surface like we’re used to here.

      • JohnDClay
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        3 days ago

        Here’s what I was taking about. The idea is under the right temps and pressures you’d get a lattice of single hydrogen atoms instead of hydrogen atom pairs. It could potentially be meta stable after being produced, but that’s still to be determined.

        https://youtu.be/nMfPNUZzG_Q