Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes some crazy ideas for how to tinker with the universe and tests their effects against the laws of physics, from snapping the moon in half to causing doomsday events with gravitational waves. apple, Spotify Or check out our podcast page.
Uranus and Neptune are so similar that we don't need both. That's the idea behind this episode of Dead Planets Society, in which hosts Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane decide to light Uranus on fire.
There's a scientific justification for this, of course. For one thing, burning material and examining the light from it, a process called spectroscopy, is one of the best ways to determine its chemical composition. And because the depths of ice giants remain murky and mysterious, burning up the outer layers could reveal what's underneath.
Before you reach for the matches, let's talk about our special guest, planetary scientist Pole Barn That could be tricky, says a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri: Uranus' outer layers lack the oxygen needed for combustion, he explains, so pumping in more oxygen than is contained in the entire solar system might not be helpful.
But the interior of Uranus isn't just shrouded in mystery – it may also be full of iceberg-like diamond chunks. This quickly changes the host's focus: this is no longer a fireworks mission, but a heist.
While the planet's outer layers would still need to be removed, the most efficient way would probably be to collide it with another planet. Viewed from Earth, this would be seen as a flash of light, a glowing cloud of steam, and perhaps a bright tail forming behind Uranus. The impact would need to be carefully planned so as not to shatter the planet and its diamonds.
But a suitable collision could accomplish both the new goal of obtaining Uranus' diamonds and the original goal of exposing and studying its depths. It could also destroy the entire solar system, but when has the Society of Dead Planets ever worried about that?
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Source: www.newscientist.com
