天王星和海王星會下鉆石雨？

Over the years, countless poets and songwriters have described the night sky as looking as if it were full of diamonds. As it turns out, there could be some truth in that.

多年來，無數(shù)的詩人和詞曲作家都曾以“仿佛綴滿鉆石”的字眼來形容夜空。而事實(shí)上，這種說法也確實(shí)有些道理。

On Earth, natural diamonds are formed when carbon-containing minerals are mixed with high pressure and heat over billions of years.

當(dāng)?shù)厍蛏系暮嫉V物經(jīng)受了數(shù)十億年的高壓高溫，天然鉆石就形成了。

Within the faraway icy planets of Neptune and Uranus, however, it’s believed that diamonds are formed in a more interesting way.

然而在遙遠(yuǎn)的寒冷星球海王星和天王星上，人們認(rèn)為鉆石的形成方式更加有趣。

The planets, which are both around four times bigger than Earth, are each covered by an ocean made up of water and hydrocarbons.

這兩顆行星都比地球要大三倍這兩顆行星都比地球要大4倍左右，表面上都覆蓋著由水和碳?xì)浠衔锝M成的海洋。

It’s believed that the huge pressure and high temperatures within the planets lead to diamonds being created from the ocean’s hydrocarbons. These diamonds then “rain” down to the center of the planets.

人們認(rèn)為，行星上的高壓及高溫令海洋中的碳?xì)浠衔镄纬闪算@石。這些鉆石繼而稍后又會像“下雨”一樣落回到行星中心。

But while this has always just been a theory, a team of researchers recently decided to try it out for themselves.

盡管這一說法向來只是個理論，一組研究人員最近卻決定親自進(jìn)行實(shí)驗(yàn)。

According to a study published in the science journal Nature Astronomy in August, the scientists attempted to create “diamond rain” by firing lasers at polystyrene, a common plastic material that’s very much like the hydrocarbons on the two planets.

在科學(xué)期刊《自然·天文學(xué)》八月刊登的一項(xiàng)研究中，科學(xué)家們試圖用激光點(diǎn)燃聚苯乙烯來創(chuàng)造“鉆石雨”。聚苯乙烯是種常見的塑料原料，和兩顆行星上面表面的碳?xì)浠衔锍煞质窒嗨啤?/p>

Using special equipment, the researchers managed to create conditions like those on Neptune and Uranus. They used two kinds of lasers, creating a similar temperature and pressure to those found around 10,000 kilometers inside the planets.

研究人員通過使用特殊設(shè)備，創(chuàng)造出了類似于海王星和天王星上的環(huán)境。他們使用了兩種激光，形成了與行星內(nèi)部10000公里處相似的溫度和壓力。

Following their brief experiment, the team discovered that they had created diamonds successfully, although they were only a few nanometers in diameter.

研究團(tuán)隊(duì)在簡短的實(shí)驗(yàn)過后發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們成功地創(chuàng)造出了鉆石，盡管這些鉆石直徑只有幾納米。

However, Dominik Kraus, co-author of the study, believes that deep within Neptune and Uranus, the diamonds would be a lot bigger. According to Kraus, they could also be the reason why the inner layers of the ice giants are so hot.

然而，該研究的合著者多米尼克·克勞斯認(rèn)為，在海王星和天王星的深處，形成的鉆石要大得多。克勞斯表示，鉆石或許也是令這兩顆冰巨星的內(nèi)層溫度如此之高的原因。

“These diamonds will sink down … and when they sink down, there will be friction with the surrounding area … and all this generates heat,” he wrote in the study.

“這些鉆石將會下沉 —— 當(dāng)它們下沉?xí)r，將會和周圍環(huán)境產(chǎn)生摩擦 —— 如此一來便會產(chǎn)生高溫，”他在研究中寫道。

It’s hoped that the findings could eventually lead to easier and cheaper ways of creating artificial diamonds, which are used in everything from jewellery to machinery.

人們希望，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)最終能帶來更簡單經(jīng)濟(jì)便宜的制造人造鉆石的方法，能夠應(yīng)用于從珠寶業(yè)到機(jī)械業(yè)的方方面面。

But until scientists discover how to truly fill the sky with diamonds, we’ll just have to stick with songs and poetry.

但在科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)如何真正讓天空綴滿鉆石之前，我們還是繼續(xù)創(chuàng)作歌曲和詩歌吧。