Diamonds Fall Like Rain on Jupiter and Saturn

[Maze1125]

There are more people alive today on this planet than total of all the humans that have ever lived

You're either an extreme animal rights activist or absolutely terrible at maths.

 

[newwiseman]

Diamonds are damn near worthless. The assumption that all diamonds mined are sold is a fallacy of marketing. Most are stored long term in large warehouses, because the simple truth of chemistry and physics is that diamonds are the most common gemstone on earth. While diamonds of color or large size are rare, the vast majority of the diamonds sold are exceedingly common. You can artificially inflate the price of anything if you control the supply and use marketing to drive up demand. This is accomplished because diamond mines are rare and easily controlled to limit supply.

Side note: The Rothschild have been doing the same thing with currency for over a hundred years.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Theres a planet made of diamond. There is one where it rains oil. There are even suns out there where you can walk across without being burnt to a crisp. Space is weird, but sci fi never comes close to it.

 

[2HF]

This is due to the rarity of naturally occurring diamonds on the surface of planet Earth.

No, it's because their price was artificially inflated as a marketing scheme in 1938 (source [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_(gemstone)#cite_note-DeBeersMarketing-35]). I thought everybody knew that.

Yeah because before 1938 diamonds were cheap as chips. The reason why diamonds, for 1000s of years, have been expensive is because they only naturally 80-120 miles down in the Earths crust and then thrust upward by volcanic action. This means they are inherently rare.

Not true at all. At least not the rare part. When's the last time you heard of a global diamond shortage? Never is when, the world, and the warehouses of diamond retailers are bursting at the seams with diamonds. They cost an arm and a leg because people are willing to pay am arm and a leg because god forbid your family and friends think less of you for buying a cheap ring for the love of your life, or worse! What if that ***** in the next cube never let's you live it down that hers is bigger!

How diamonds have risen at 5% above inflation since the end of the De Beers monopoly? There are 2200 tons of diamonds mined each year as opposed to the 2800 million tons of iron ore mined each year. Why is gold more expensive than silver? Its simple, because its rarer.

You're confusing rare with rarer. People who can make a living singing are rarer than those who can't but they're not rare. 2200 tons of anything in a year is not rare, it's just rarer. Assuming your numbers are even anywhere near correct, I can't be bothered to do the research. Diamonds are not rare, and unless they're used for industrial purposes they're not worth much either. They're an absolutely useless waste of money for any consumer.

 

[Racecarlock]

It's just a bunch of shiny rocks. Beyond cosmic jewelry, I don't see much use in this discovery.

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

wait. call me stupid, but... jupiter has a surface? i thought gas giants were just big balls of gas in space.

 

[Seanfall]

An interesting curiosity and it sounds quite possible, but it's ultimately meaningless, because there's no way our tools could reach down to those depths to retrieve them.

I know one man who could, would do it. One man with the money the tenacity the audacity! Scrooge Mcduck!

 

[Glaice]

wait. call me stupid, but... jupiter has a surface? i thought gas giants were just big balls of gas in space.

They are believed to have a rocky core, all the stuff we see from photographs is the planets' atmospheres.

 

[A-D.]

wait. call me stupid, but... jupiter has a surface? i thought gas giants were just big balls of gas in space.

Actually, the core is solid. Any planetary body has a solid core made of primarily one element, or one is in much higher quantity than any other. Earth has a planetary core which is mostly iron. Jupiter may have a core (this is theory from 2001 Space Odyssey) which is basicly surrounded by diamond, as in pure diamond, because of its immense pressure that would literally compress and crush everything so tightly together that it becomes diamond. Which begs the question what core jupiter has, elementally speaking.

In any case, there is a solid part to any planetary body, i.e. the core of it. Regardless if the surface is solid, gaseous or fluid. Even the sun has one gigantic core under all that molten, burning, hot surface. And the core is usually the primary element and the heaviest, which due to rotation generates gravity and attracts everything around it.

But to put the idea there, Jupiter may have a earth-like planet under all that "gas". The gaseous part may just be its entire atmosphere, just like we have this big space between the ground and outer space we call "the sky" ;P

 

[Saltyk]

I love space. There's always something new and awesome to discover. Even in our own backyard. I don't even care if this turns out to not be true, it's just so damn cool.

Spoiler: I now have an excuse to post this.

i am really curious what the properties of a liquid carbon sea would have

Honestly, I'm not sure. Would it be like oil? Or something else?

It's just a bunch of shiny rocks. Beyond cosmic jewelry, I don't see much use in this discovery.

Diamonds, being one of the hardest substances known to man, have a variety of uses that are not merely cosmetic. Such as industrial uses. Drill bits are probably the most obvious example.

wait. call me stupid, but... jupiter has a surface? i thought gas giants were just big balls of gas in space.

My guess would be some sort of core. Similar to the Earth's core, but surrounding by nigh immeasurable amounts of gas instead of rock. How a gas giant forms, I'm not really certain.

 

[Strazdas]

This is due to the rarity of naturally occurring diamonds on the surface of planet Earth.

No, it's because their price was artificially inflated as a marketing scheme in 1938 (source [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_(gemstone)#cite_note-DeBeersMarketing-35]). I thought everybody knew that.

Yeah because before 1938 diamonds were cheap as chips. The reason why diamonds, for 1000s of years, have been expensive is because they only naturally 80-120 miles down in the Earths crust and then thrust upward by volcanic action. This means they are inherently rare.

Not true at all. At least not the rare part. When's the last time you heard of a global diamond shortage? Never is when, the world, and the warehouses of diamond retailers are bursting at the seams with diamonds. They cost an arm and a leg because people are willing to pay am arm and a leg because god forbid your family and friends think less of you for buying a cheap ring for the love of your life, or worse! What if that ***** in the next cube never let's you live it down that hers is bigger!

How diamonds have risen at 5% above inflation since the end of the De Beers monopoly? There are 2200 tons of diamonds mined each year as opposed to the 2800 million tons of iron ore mined each year. Why is gold more expensive than silver? Its simple, because its rarer.

GOld is more expensive than silver because its excavation is throwtled down to support such pricing range, coupled with popular belief that "gold is safe currency" makes it very expensive in period of crysis. truth is, such metals like neodymium are FAR MORE RARE, but less expensive. Diamonds and gold is a monopolized market that artificially inflates prices for their own benefit.

There are more people alive today on this planet than total of all the humans that have ever lived

You're either an extreme animal rights activist or absolutely terrible at maths.

He is correct. There are currently more people alive that have ever lived. lived, means they used to live but now are dead. we have more people alive now than ever have died on our planet. and that is a fact. you can thank life longevity and uncontrolled mating for that. because apperently some idiot decided that having children is a human right.

 

[BlackStar42]

This is due to the rarity of naturally occurring diamonds on the surface of planet Earth.

No, it's because their price was artificially inflated as a marketing scheme in 1938 (source [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_(gemstone)#cite_note-DeBeersMarketing-35]). I thought everybody knew that.

Yeah because before 1938 diamonds were cheap as chips. The reason why diamonds, for 1000s of years, have been expensive is because they only naturally 80-120 miles down in the Earths crust and then thrust upward by volcanic action. This means they are inherently rare.

Not true at all. At least not the rare part. When's the last time you heard of a global diamond shortage? Never is when, the world, and the warehouses of diamond retailers are bursting at the seams with diamonds. They cost an arm and a leg because people are willing to pay am arm and a leg because god forbid your family and friends think less of you for buying a cheap ring for the love of your life, or worse! What if that ***** in the next cube never let's you live it down that hers is bigger!

How diamonds have risen at 5% above inflation since the end of the De Beers monopoly? There are 2200 tons of diamonds mined each year as opposed to the 2800 million tons of iron ore mined each year. Why is gold more expensive than silver? Its simple, because its rarer.

GOld is more expensive than silver because its excavation is throwtled down to support such pricing range, coupled with popular belief that "gold is safe currency" makes it very expensive in period of crysis. truth is, such metals like neodymium are FAR MORE RARE, but less expensive. Diamonds and gold is a monopolized market that artificially inflates prices for their own benefit.

There are more people alive today on this planet than total of all the humans that have ever lived

You're either an extreme animal rights activist or absolutely terrible at maths.

He is correct. There are currently more people alive that have ever lived. lived, means they used to live but now are dead. we have more people alive now than ever have died on our planet. and that is a fact. you can thank life longevity and uncontrolled mating for that. because apperently some idiot decided that having children is a human right.

How do you figure that? There are far, far more dead than living. Remember, humans have been dying for over a hundred millennia. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16870579

 

[smokingplane]

...snip

In any case, there is a solid part to any planetary body, i.e. the core of it. Regardless if the surface is solid, gaseous or fluid. Even the sun has one gigantic core under all that molten, burning, hot surface. And the core is usually the primary element and the heaviest, which due to rotation generates gravity and attracts everything around it.

It's not the rotation that "generates" gravity. Gravity is a function of the amount of mass, not of the rotation of that mass.
And we still don't know exactly how gravity is "generated", just that it might have something to do with the interaction of bosons on a quantum level (aka: we don't exactly know how).

 

[Lightknight]

Actually, diamonds are not rare. Gem quality diamonds are significantly harder to find at 1 in 10 million diamonds being 1-carat gem quality (which, given how many diamond gems exist can indicate why diamonds are commonly used in industrial applications with that kind of ratio).

A company called De Beers controls around 60-75% of the diamond market and used to hold 90%. As their monopoly drops we will begin to see more affordable diamonds in the market as De Beers has acting strongly on their monopoly to inflate prices to astounding amounts considering the mineral's relative commoness. But make no mistake, their monopoly is still quite strong and the largest vendors are afraid of purchasing elsewhere because De Beers will drop them from being able to buy from them again.

Please keep in mind, saying that De Beers has dropped to 60-75% of the diamond market does not mean that they don't still have massive control with all other suppliers scrambling for the remaining 40-25% (so many different smaller suppliers that De Beers can still easily control the market unless they somehow managed to act as one) and it also doesn't mean that this is their control specifically in the diamond gem market. Diamonds in general are increasing in production because they can be used for drills, optics (lasers) and a number of other applications. The diamond market is larger than the gem-quality diamond market. So it is misleading to talk about their control over the diamond market as a whole when it's really just their gem-quality market that we generally discuss as horribly overpriced.

From a market standpoint, even with that 1/1,000,000 ratio I mentioned, supply significantly exceeds demand. De Beers just corners the market where ever possible and has stockpiled the subject for more than 100 years. They carefully mete out small amounts of diamonds to keep supply artificially low while setting the price at the supplier level.

One of my favorite diamond links is:
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/12/01/10-facts-about-diamonds-you-should-know/#!lx0MW

Throughout this post I've had trouble not typing their name as Da Bears for some reason. Please forgive me if I made that mistake somewhere along the way.

...snip

In any case, there is a solid part to any planetary body, i.e. the core of it. Regardless if the surface is solid, gaseous or fluid. Even the sun has one gigantic core under all that molten, burning, hot surface. And the core is usually the primary element and the heaviest, which due to rotation generates gravity and attracts everything around it.

It's not the rotation that "generates" gravity. Gravity is a function of the amount of mass, not of the rotation of that mass.
And we still don't know exactly how gravity is "generated", just that it might have something to do with the interaction of bosons on a quantum level (aka: we don't exactly know how).

Mass and density of said mass seem to correlate. A significantly denser planet seems capable of producing more gravitational force than larger less dense planets.

But yeah, still a mysterious force in a lot of ways.

 

[A-D.]

...snip

In any case, there is a solid part to any planetary body, i.e. the core of it. Regardless if the surface is solid, gaseous or fluid. Even the sun has one gigantic core under all that molten, burning, hot surface. And the core is usually the primary element and the heaviest, which due to rotation generates gravity and attracts everything around it.

It's not the rotation that "generates" gravity. Gravity is a function of the amount of mass, not of the rotation of that mass.
And we still don't know exactly how gravity is "generated", just that it might have something to do with the interaction of bosons on a quantum level (aka: we don't exactly know how).

True, well i was probably mixing up gravity and magnetic fields. Although one is likely related to the other, i aint a expert on astronomy or physics so its essentially a "take it with a grain of salt" thing in my case. But imho gravity comes from in part by said rotation of the heavy element core as well as its mass, so due to rotation of the mass, gravity increases rather than decreases.

Again, not an expert, just what i think might be happening, though i could of course be terribly wrong there ;p

 

[Pyrian]

Gravity is generated by mass - period. Density and rotation do not affect the total gravity at a given distance from the body's center (tidal effects aside), although they might profoundly affect your experience at the surface. For example, two objects with the same mass but substantially different densities will have different levels of surface gravity. This isn't a difference in the total gravity, but is instead simply a function of the surface of the larger, less dense planetoid being further away from its center.

Our sun is fully convective and does not have a solid core. Some stars do have cores.

 

[Skeleon]

An interesting curiosity and it sounds quite possible, but it's ultimately meaningless, because there's no way our tools could reach down to those depths to retrieve them.

I know one man who could, would do it. One man with the money the tenacity the audacity! Scrooge Mcduck!

Heh, he'd just get Gyro to invent some super-hard diamond-based collector or something, gathering up all the stuff... only to later realize he's crashing the diamond market, making them all worthless in the process... :-D