How do we know the gas planets dont have a solid core?

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Wouldn’t these giant planets have a solid core. Gravity should pull in all kinds of matter right? Or do they have a solid core and if so wouldnt it be possible for life to erupt there?

In: Chemistry

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

There isn’t anything to suggest they don’t have a solid core, in fact most planets form from planetismals (baby planets if you like) that are lumps of rock and ice. Of course there are a few exceptions

Anonymous 0 Comments

Our planet is much smaller and we have a mostly liquid core. The result of compressing gasses under that much gravitational force(Jupiter is 2.4x that of earth) if the heat generated by the pressure means there is most likely a liquid core on the gas giants.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Most do have a solid core.

As for life I don’t think anyone knows for sure if it’s impossible for life to arise there but most people would speculate that due to the extreme pressure, temperature, winds, and radiation it would be impossible. However, both life and the universe are constantly surprising us with what they are capable of so I can’t personally rule out life on gas giants completely.

Anonymous 0 Comments

This: https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/09aug_juno3

Called Liquid Metallic Hydrogen and it’s awesome.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Jupiter and Saturn are suspected to have solid or liquid cores. Even if they started off as only gas, the massive pressure at the core of the ball of gas that makes them up would cause the gasses to turn to liquid.

(Edit: tangentially related science – A lower atmospheric pressure also lowers the boiling point of a liquid, so for instance if you were to put a cup of water in a sealed pressure vessel and slowly remove the air towards a vacuum, the water would begin to boil off at a much lower temperature than 100 c. Conversely, if you raise the atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of a liquid rises, so under high pressure, it is possible to have water in liquid form above 100c, and there is a pressure “critical point” where the properties of a gas and a liquid are the same)

Anonymous 0 Comments

If there is a solid core, it’s not like the earth where there’s a fine line between atmosphere and the ground. It would just keep getting denser/thicker so would be difficult to determine ground vs not ground.