Experts have found a weird state of matter deep inside Uranus where atoms move in strange spirals, which could finally explain the planet’s wonky magnetic field
Space boffins have been left scratching their heads after discovering a bizarre state of matter lurking deep inside the icy bowels of Uranus. Experts studying the guts of the solar system’s ice giants – Uranus and Neptune – have spotted signs of a strange substance that defies everything we know about how things behave on Earth.
At the heart of the mystery is carbon hydride. Under the crushing pressure of deep space, the compound has started acting like a freakish hybrid between a solid and a liquid.
The groundbreaking study, published in Nature Communications, suggests that the interiors of these distant worlds are far more chaotic than we ever imagined.
Researchers Cong Liu and Ronald Cohen focused their attention on the “hot ices” buried beneath layers of hydrogen and helium.
In these zones, temperatures soar between 4,000 and 6,000 Kelvin, while the pressure is a staggering 500 to 3,000 gigapascals.
Under these conditions, normal chemistry goes out the window. Using high-tech quantum simulations and AI, the team found that carbon hydride forms a rigid, hexagonal shape.
Inside this structure, hydrogen atoms are doing something truly weird. Instead of bouncing around in every direction, they follow helical, spiral-like paths through the carbon.
Ronald Cohen said: “This newly predicted carbon-hydrogen phase is particularly striking because the atomic motion is not fully three-dimensional. Instead, hydrogen moves preferentially along well-defined helical pathways embedded within an ordered carbon structure.”
This “superionic” state could finally explain why Uranus and Neptune have such wonky magnetic fields.
Unlike Earth, their magnetic fields are tilted and don’t actually sit in the centre of the planet.
Because these spiralling atoms change how heat and electricity flow through the planet’s core, they might be the secret engine behind these cosmic oddities.
Cong Liu added: “Carbon and hydrogen are among the most abundant elements in planetary materials, yet their combined behaviour at giant-planet conditions remains far from fully understood.”
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