Researchers are investigating an early version of water in the early, icy interiors of Uranus en Neptune.
In a new study, scientists have devised and used a theoretical computer model to pair in the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. With this tool, the team studied the thermal and electrical conductivity of the unusual water in these planets. By simulating these physical processes on the tiny atomic scale, the researchers hope that this new model will reveal information about the internal structure of the icy bodies, magnetic fields, how they evolved and just how old they are.
When studying Uranus and Neptune with this model, the researchers, who hail from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy and the University of California at Los Angeles, estimated that the two planets were probably in the primarily composed of water in some form and Uranus may even have a frozen core, according to a statement from SISSA.
Related: What is Uranus made of?
“Hydrogen and oxygen are the most abundant elements in the Universe, along with helium. It is easy to deduce that water is one of the most important constituents of many celestial bodies,” the researchers said in the same statement.
The team looked at three different phases of water that could exist in these planetary interiors: ice, liquid and superionic (superionic water exists at extremely high temperatures and pressures.) But, as the researchers explained in the statement, water rises (and inside of) an alien planet is much different than water on Earth.
“In such exotic physical conditions, we can not think of ice as we are accustomed to,” SISSA professors and co-authors Federico Grasselli and Stefano Baroni said in the statement. “Even water is actually different, denser, with different molecules dissociating into positive and negative ions, and thus carrying an electric charge. Superionic water lies somewhere between the liquid and solid phases.”
So what did they find about the water in these ice giants? The researchers hypothesize, they explain in the statement, that Uranus may actually have a frozen core. This would explain why the planet is not very whole, because a frozen core would mean that very little heat would move to the surface of the planet, according to the statement.
The scientists also found that superionic water in Uranus and Neptune is more electrically conductive than water on Earth, and they think that superionic water is a large part of the dense inner layers of these the gas giants. These results increase our understanding of exactly how the two bodies were composed and how they came to be, the study suggests.
As the two scientists said in the statement, “thermal and electrical conduction dictates a ‘history of the planet, how and when it was formed, how it cools. It is therefore crucial to analyze them with the appropriate tools, such as those we have developed. “
This one work was published July 17th in the journal Nature Communications.
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