Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in the United States, managed to melt diamond in the laboratory under extreme pressure and temperature conditions. The experiment was conducted at the Omega Laser Laboratory, at the University of Rochester, and the results were published on August 13 in the journal Nature Physics.
The test used a laser to hit the outer layer of a diamond sample and produce a shock wave inside it. For a fraction of a second, the material was subjected to a pressure three times higher than that of Earth's core and temperatures close to those of the Sun's surface. The researchers tracked the changes with measurement instruments, including an X-ray technique.
The research helps clarify how carbon may behave in the interior of Uranus and Neptune, planets where there is a hypothesis of a "diamond rain." Scientists seek to understand the extreme conditions existing in these celestial bodies, where carbon could crystallize in the form of diamond and fall toward the planetary core.
