A new study has found that diamond rain may be more common on ice giant planets like Neptune and Uranus than previously thought.
For the first time, scientists were able to observe diamond rain as it formed with their experiment designed to mimic the extreme temperatures and pressure found on those planets.
Diamond rain forms when hydrogen and carbon found in the interior of these planets are squeezed by the high pressure and form solid diamonds that sink slowly further into the interior.
As they created shockwaves in the plastic using the laser, they observed the atoms of the material rearrange into small diamond regions.
The researchers found that these diamond regions grew up to a size of a few nanometres.
With the presence of oxygen in the material, the nanodiamonds were able to grow at lower pressures and temperatures than was observed in previous experiments.
Such nanodiamonds are already included in abrasives and polishing agents and in the future, they can potentially be used for quantum sensors and reaction accelerators for renewable energy.
The way nanodiamonds are currently made is by taking a bunch of carbon or diamond and blowing it up with explosives.
This will help them get even closer to understanding how diamond rain forms on other planets. This will help them get even closer to understanding how diamond rain forms on other planets.