Simran Joshi
One stunning discovery is that scientists have yet to understand the secrets about Jupiter, a true gas giant of earth-shattering proportions. This is very unlike Earth and its boulder-like neighbors, for Jupiter is a gaseous sphere of mostly turbulent gasses consisting of hydrogen and helium, where extreme pressure and wild storms rule supreme.
Cruel enough to be imagined, conditions on Jupiter are characterized by winds that exceed 400 mph and have no solid surface, meaning that neither spacecraft will ever land nor any human walk upon the planet. What lies at the heart of this gas giant continues to fuel questions even as scientists dig deeper into the very structure, tantalizing clues but providing no clear answers as to the nature of its mysterious core.
The Formation of Jupiter: A Ball of Gas Giant
The Jupiter’s surface is greatly different from the rocky planets that come from the Solar System. Earth and Mars are some examples. There is no solid ground on Jupiter to walk on or land on, nor are there grassy fields.
Instead, it is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gasses, a whirling, boisterous atmosphere with gusty winds that can reach over 400 mph. At such incredible velocities, this is what incredibly powerful storms are made of. Some have been raging for centuries; it’s a gigantic storm, three times the size of Earth, the Great Red Spot.
The pressure increases to extreme levels as we get deeper into Jupiter’s atmosphere. Under this pressure, the gas compresses, becoming liquid hydrogen, which scientists hypothesize forms an immense, very deep ocean of liquid hydrogen. But it’s nothing like Earth’s oceans: its liquids contain no water, only pure hydrogen.
The enormity of that pressure compresses hydrogen atoms so they touch one another, allowing electrons to flow freely among them and creating a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen. This phenomenon of liquid metallic hydrogen is considered to be the largest “ocean” in the universe; it contributes to the magnetic field of Jupiter.
Mystery of Jupiter’s Core
Scientists for a long time believed that the composition of the core of Jupiter remains one of the most mystical features of this gas giant. Unlike hard core terrestrial planets, Jupiter has a hot, dense mixture of materials in both liquid and solid states that comprises its core.
Theoretically, the core is composed of a dense metallic mixture which would not become perfectly solid in the stresses and heat found at the planetary center. This composition also explained Jupiter’s added pull of gravity to maintain its giant size and form.
Because the pressure in the core is as extreme as to probably make a human body implode, it is obvious how extreme and alien the conditions are on Jupiter.
With these extreme conditions, scientists have no direct means by which to study the core of Jupiter except indirectly, which means observing gravitational fields and magnetic forces. This information gives insight not only into Jupiter but into how these processes create gas giants and how they work throughout the universe.
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