Astronomers discover planet made of diamond

[LadyLara]

And suppose a Jupiter-like planet only "grazed" the star in a partial eclipse? The assumption would be that a tiny, very dense planet made transit.

The light curve profile is different when a planet only grazes the star's disc, so it's possible to differentiate them. If the planet's disc fully passes across the star's disc then there's a nice flat part in the light curve. But like I say, this doesn't work with neutron stars anyway as they have a diameter similar to that of a city.

 

[RJM Corbet]

The light curve profile is different when a planet only grazes the star's disc, so it's possible to differentiate them. If the planet's disc fully passes across the star's disc then there's a nice flat part in the light curve. But like I say, this doesn't work with neutron stars anyway as they have a diameter similar to that of a city.

Yes but you can only deduce the diameter of the planet, not the mass from this 'Herschel Telescope'. After this you still need to go to the Hawyhii 'solar wobble' telescope to start to determine the mass. ...

 

[LadyLara]

And then decide it's made out of solid carbon of course. You know, like none of the planets in our system are.

 

[Huttman]

Original quote by TheTomG:
Now for the worlds made of gold, silicon, silicone, and hot dogs.

Mmmm...How about mac'n'cheese? I seem to remember this one commercial...

 

[Metryq]

Mmmm...How about mac'n'cheese? I seem to remember this one commercial...

Count me in! Of course, such a planet wouldn't last very long. Extremely short half-life.

And I think RJM meant Lara Croft (NSFW). For some reason, lots of people pronounce it "Laura" or "Lora."

 

[mosaix]

Okay, a summary from New Scientist, 3rd Sept, Page 9.

Pulsar detected in in December 2009.

A month later periodic variations in the pulsar's signals indicate an orbiting planet. This is rare, of the 1800 or so known pulsars only two are known to harbour planets.

Even more astonishing: the variations in the pulsars signals reveal the planet has a mass roughly equal to Jupiter but orbiting at 600,000 kilometres.

This distance is crucial, if the planet were the size of Jupiter its atmosphere would have been too close to to the pulsar's intense gravity and so would not have survived long enough to be detected. Therefore the team concluded that it must be roughly 40% the size of Jupiter and much more compact.

Pulsars that rotate many times a second (as this one) reach such speed by stealing matter from a companion star. As there is no such sign of a companion the team conclude that the planet is a former star that was whittled down by the pulsar. In this case, it would be mostly carbon and with the mass of Jupiter the pressure exerted by its own gravity would cause it to crystallise - most likely into diamond, like carbon inside the Earth.

 

[TheTomG]

Laura Croft is the lesser-known sister of Lara Croft. Laura chose a career in accountancy, and while her stories are seldom told, I can tell you they have as much adventure in them as those of her more famous sibling! You just wouldn't believe the places accountancy can take you, and neither did Laura til she experienced it all for herself firsthand.

 

[dianacatapang]

[FONT=&quot]Well, I’m just wondering what will be the next thing to happen if this is all real. Can anyone then afford to buy diamond ring? Is everybody will be able to wear diamonds since we know there’s a huge source of diamonds out there? Gotta discover the new planet and see if I can do the mining for my own engagement ring. Right? [/FONT]

 

[RJM Corbet]

[FONT=&quot]Well, I’m just wondering what will be the next thing to happen if this is all real. Can anyone then afford to buy diamond ring? Is everybody will be able to wear diamonds since we know there’s a huge source of diamonds out there? Gotta discover the new planet and see if I can do the mining for my own engagement ring. Right? [/FONT]

There's a large source of (gem) diamonds already. De Beers owns the industry and lets them out in controlled batches in order to keep the price up.

Non-gem diamond is called 'bort' and is used for drills and cutting blades. Diamond will scratch any other stone, but is quite brittle. Mineralogical hardness is measured by the ability of one stone to scratch another.

Did you know that diamond has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any known material?


MOSAIX: Thanks, that about sums it up ...

 

[Vertigo]

That does clear a lot up thanks Mosaix.

RJM: diamond is actually unusual in that it is an electrical insulator whilst also being the best thermal conductor of any known solid. One of it's potential applications is by doping it with impurities it can be usd as a semiconductor and I believe by using artificial diamonds in this way there are a number of benefits including greater resistance to chemical and radiation damage.

 

[Huttman]

There's a large source of (gem) diamonds already. De Beers owns the industry and lets them out in controlled batches in order to keep the price up.

Non-gem diamond is called 'bort' and is used for drills and cutting blades. Diamond will scratch any other stone, but is quite brittle. Mineralogical hardness is measured by the ability of one stone to scratch another.

Did you know that diamond has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any known material?

Shiny! Great info, RJM.

'By the grace of God almighty, and the pressures of the marketplace, the human race, has civilized itself. It's a miracle.' - Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd fame) from his Amused to Death album. Your comment about De Beers reminded me of this incredible CD about commercialism among other things. If you like his style, I recommend taking 71 or so minutes with good headphones to absorb his....stylistic/full sounding...journey of imagination and frank look at the world. It's bloody brilliant.

 

[RJM Corbet]

That does clear a lot up thanks Mosaix.

RJM: diamond is actually unusual in that it is an electrical insulator whilst also being the best thermal conductor of any known solid. One of it's potential applications is by doping it with impurities it can be usd as a semiconductor and I believe by using artificial diamonds in this way there are a number of benefits including greater resistance to chemical and radiation damage.

Hmmm ... you're right.
Sorry

 

[chrispenycate]

Surely the best thermal conductor would be an electrical superconductor (the lack of resistance to movement of the electrons transports heat as efficiently as electrical impulses), and these tend to be solids.

And, if I remember the article correctly, diamond transistors operate at considerably higher temperatures (and diode voltages) than their silicon counterparts, so would be useful for control circuits where silicon would melt. If we could make a diamond CPU, though it would take more power, no need for cooling fans; ceramic encapsulation and run the chips up to dull red heat…

Might need some different solder.

 

[LadyLara]

Count me in! Of course, such a planet wouldn't last very long. Extremely short half-life.

And I think RJM meant Lara Croft (NSFW). For some reason, lots of people pronounce it "Laura" or "Lora."

I know I was being facetious but the clue to how to spell it is in my username

Incidentally, you'd have to work in a very tame place for that link to be NSF it...

 

[Vertigo]

Diamond transistors can indeed take a lot more power and one of their proposed uses is for high power systems. As for thermal and eletrical conductivity; I took my info from this quote:

Unlike most electrical insulators, pure diamond is a good conductor of heat because of the strong covalent bonding within the crystal. The thermal conductivity of pure diamond is the highest of any known solid. Single crystals of synthetic diamond enriched in 12C (99.9%) have the highest thermal conductivity of any material, 30 W/cm·K at room temperature, 7.5 times higher than copper. Natural diamond's conductivity is reduced by 1.1 % by the 13C naturally present, which acts as an inhomogeneity in the lattice.

From this Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_diamond

I don't pretend to understand it all, in fact I was quite surised that pure carbon could be an electrical insulator but I guess the compact crystal does not allow much in the way of free electrons?

 

[Metryq]

Incidentally, you'd have to work in a very tame place for that link to be NSF it...

Oh, I laughed myself silly the first time I read the CGIWN site (I was not at work, though), but some offices are "PC" with a vengeance—people just looking for something to get offended over.

 

[RJM Corbet]

... I don't pretend to understand it all, in fact I was quite surised that pure carbon could be an electrical insulator but I guess the compact crystal does not allow much in the way of free electrons?

Not too sure.
Glass is a very good electrical insulator because it is amorphous, yet solid. That's why they use porcelain insulators on high voltage pylons. Porcelain is devitrified glass, which means it won't 'melt'. But it's also a good thermal insulator, as one would expect.

Silver conducts electricity better than copper, but is too expensive.
After copper comes zinc ...