Gas Giants

[All Seeing Eye]

Space in a sense is freezing cold, Gas giants far away from the Sun should be ice cold because not much radiation from the sun reaches them.
When you cool a gas enough it becomes liquefied so why are the gas clouds of the gas giants not a liquid? why are they not liquid planets?

 

[cultcross]

Because a lot of gases require very low temperatures to liquefy. Helium boils at -268.93ºC at atmospheric pressure.

 

[Plecostomus]

In Jupiter's case there are some funky internal processes going on that we don't fully understand.

 

[kv1at3485]

Space in a sense is freezing cold, Gas giants far away from the Sun should be ice cold because not much radiation from the sun reaches them.
When you cool a gas enough it becomes liquefied so why are the gas clouds of the gas giants not a liquid? why are they not liquid planets?

Temperature is merely a measure of kinetic energy. There's a lot of energy coming up from the planet's core.

In a way, "gas giant" is a misnomer. There are liquid layers deeper down due to the pressure. Heck, it's possible the likes of Jupiter has a metallic hydrogen core.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

How can you possibly have a metallic hydrogen core? Hydrogen isn't a metal.

 

[Plecostomus]

How can you possibly have a metallic hydrogen core? Hydrogen isn't a metal.

If you compress it enough it becomes a metal. Look at its position on the periodic table.

The concept of metallic hydrogen has been around for a long time.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

The concept of metallic hydrogen has been around for a long time.

It boggles the mind, it really does.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Stop being boggled and get back to the magnets. FOCUS!

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Stop being boggled and get back to the magnets. FOCUS!

You'll probably not hear from me about the magnets for a few months until I get around to it so you'll have to be patient.

 

[Plecostomus]

My boss (the owner) at Avalanche Fabrication had the same idea.

We spent $25,000 on material and machine time to build his Great Experiment.

Hey, I got paid overtime to build the device. That's all that matters.

 

[kv1at3485]

It boggles the mind, it really does.

It's just a matter of putting under enough pressure. Right out of high school chemistry/physics, really.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Whilst we're on the subject of pressure:

If you put clay under intense pressure can you turn it into oil to burn?

 

[Gepard]

Oil is organic. Clay is a collection of minerals. So, no.

 

[Verteron]

Space in a sense is freezing cold, Gas giants far away from the Sun should be ice cold because not much radiation from the sun reaches them.
When you cool a gas enough it becomes liquefied so why are the gas clouds of the gas giants not a liquid? why are they not liquid planets?

I'm not really that cold and I'm like 150 million kilometers from the Sun, give or take a few hundred thousand here and there.

 

[Aquehonga]

Gas giants, especially Jupiter, radiate more energy back to the Sun than they receive from it.

So you have all this heat coming up from beneath the cloud decks.

But look at the gas giant's moons? Frigid frozen places, except Io due to it's volcanism & being in a constant gravity tug of war between Jupiter & the 3 outer Galileans.

Reminds me. I saw the Galileans one night with my binoculars. I think I only saw 3 of them.

Small tiny stars right next to & around Jupiter.

It was awesme

 

[Neopeius]

Space in a sense is freezing cold, Gas giants far away from the Sun should be ice cold because not much radiation from the sun reaches them.

In fact, the space around our sun's gas giants is ice cold. This is why ice makes up most of the moons out Jupiter's way and beyond.

That's the divide between the inner planets and the outer ones. Inside a certain point, ice is just a volatile, a frosting. Outside that point, ice becomes a planetary construction material.

Now, gas giants themselves are not "frozen" because gravitational contraction generates heat. And, as has been said, the pressure is so unbelievably strong in Jupiter that you get exotic things like a ginormous ocean of metallic hydrogen

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Whilst we're on the subject of Gas giants and their moons:

Does Ganymede pass through Jupiters radiation belt?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Whilst we're on the subject of Gas giants and their moons:

Does Ganymede pass through Jupiters radiation belt?

I understand that Ganymede is believed to be the only satellite in the solar system that possesses its own magnetosphere and radiation belt, which are both embedded within Jupiter's magnetosphere and radiation belt. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PIA04433_Jupiter_Torus_Diagram.jpg

Ganymede is the outermost satellite shown in the diagram.

 

[Dayton3]

Whilst we're on the subject of Gas giants and their moons:

Does Ganymede pass through Jupiters radiation belt?

Yes.

While not as irradiated as Europa, and certainly not Io. Ganymede does get a massive dose of radiation from Jupiter.

Callisto is the only large moon of Jupiter that a manned mission could land on and stay any length of time. IIRC, some mission plans have recommended a maximum stay on Callisto of four months or less.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

While not as irradiated as Europa, and certainly not Io. Ganymede does get a massive dose of radiation from Jupiter.

Callisto is the only large moon of Jupiter that a manned mission could land on and stay any length of time. IIRC, some mission plans have recommended a maximum stay on Callisto of four months or less.

While much of Ganymede's magnetic field (which is 4 times stronger than Mercury's) is openly connected to Jupiter's, some field lines are closed. I guess this might afford some protection from Jupiter's radiation belts on regions of Ganymede's surface near its magnetic equator. See, for example:

http://www.igpp.ucla.edu/people/mkivelson/Publications/98JE00227.pdf