Publication Date:
1999-10-03
Description:
Experiments using laser-heated diamond anvil cells show that methane (CH4) breaks down to form diamond at pressures between 10 and 50 gigapascals and temperatures of about 2000 to 3000 kelvin. Infrared absorption and Raman spectroscopy, along with x-ray diffraction, indicate the presence of polymeric hydrocarbons in addition to the diamond, which is in agreement with theoretical predictions. Dissociation of CH4 at high pressures and temperatures can influence the energy budgets of planets containing substantial amounts of CH4, water, and ammonia, such as Uranus and Neptune.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Benedetti, L R -- Nguyen, J H -- Caldwell, W A -- Liu, H -- Kruger, M -- Jeanloz, R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1999 Oct 1;286(5437):100-2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Physics, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10506552" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Diamond/*chemistry
;
Evolution, Planetary
;
Hot Temperature
;
Hydrocarbons/chemistry
;
Methane/*chemistry
;
*Neptune
;
Pressure
;
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
;
Spectrum Analysis, Raman
;
*Uranus
;
X-Ray Diffraction
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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