Diamond Withstands 5x The Pressure at Earth’s Core
Diamond holds up under pressure, maintaining its structure in laser experiments that reached more than five times the pressure at the center of the Earth.
By Emily Conover at ScienceNews Image: MACIEJ TOPOROWICZ, NYC/GETTY IMAGES
Diamond stands up to a squeeze. Surprisingly, the material’s structure persists even when compressed to 2 trillion pascals, more than five times the pressure in Earth’s core, scientists report January 27 in Nature.
The study suggests that diamond is metastable at high pressures: It retains its structure despite the fact that other, more stable structures are expected to dominate under such conditions.
Studying diamond’s quirks at extreme pressures could help reveal the inner workings of carbon-rich exoplanets (SN: 7/16/14).
