quote:
Originally posted by Cybes:
firstly, some chemical reaction i can't remember offhand cracks free carbon off of methane, creating a carbon 'rain'. the carbon continues straight through the 'metallic' hydrogen liquid, and forms a solid core. the pressure and heat then convert it to diamond.
the theory only really 'works' for gas giants with a significant portion of methane, though.
um-kay. cool. but why would the carbon not liquify rather than crystalize? of course, presuming that the carbon 'rain' is more like carbon 'snow' or 'hail'
sorry, dont mean to be turning the thread into science class.
[This message has been edited by Puke (edited 31 January 2001).]