Question about the gas giants, Jupiter,saturn,uranus,neptune?

Question

I have studied these planets in great detail and I have trouble grasping the fact that they have no solid surface,, Suppose we took a solid metal ball and dropped it into one of these giants what would it eventually hit?? would it hit anything solid?? It seems that it would have to have a solid core of some kind ! am I right on this??

Answer 1

1.These planets have a gaseous layer,made mainly of
Hydrogen,Helium and heavier elements making up between
3 and 13 percent of the mass.

2.The second layer consists of compressed gases, mainly
hydrogen. The pressure here is high.

3. Yes, you are right! The core consists of rock and water.
Gravity here is so high that any thing on earth weights 26
times more.
Thus, if you weight about 70Kg, you would weight about
1820Kg!!!!

I do not think that any thing would pass through the second layer as the deeper you go the higher the pressure is until the pressure would crush everything.

Answer 2

Define 'hit something'.

Earth is a solid body with a surrounding atmosphere. As you enter the atmosphere from space the density of air gets higher and higher, but because Earth is not massive enough to hold a very thick atmosphere there is a sudden transition to the solid surface of the planet.

Jupiter is much more massive. It is so large that as you enter Jupiter's atmosphere the density increases, just as it does on Earth, but you can go much deeper. Density and pressure just keep on increasing and increasing. Eventually the molecules in the atmosphere are so densely packed they are actually a liquid state. Keep going and the liquid becomes denser and denser until maybe, at the core, it is very nearly solid. However, there is no sudden switch from one state to the other, just a steady gradient of density leading from tenuous gas to solid core. There is no surface to speak of, but that doesn't mean there is no solid core.

[Edited to comment on the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact query in the next answer: The comet could not have punched through the planet because it is simply too dense. A comet is no more than a lose mass of rock and ice, nowhere near as dense as Jupiter. At the speeds the impacts took place it would not be required to hit a solid mass to produce an explosion. Remember that objects burn up in our own artmosphere all the time, sometimes exploding long before they reach the ground.]

Answer 3

Due to the tremendous gravity, the frozen liquid ammonia or methane are so compacted that the density would counter the density of the object that is dropped into the planet. Depending on the mass, an object like a tomato would go so far, a ball bearing of similar dimensions would obviously venture deeper.

Keep in mind too, that there is more to be learned from the Jovian planets and that there is no reason to rule out the fact that there still could be a small rocky core to all those planets.

Answer 4

I can get with the 'no solid surface' idea, but not the 'no core'.... I'm thinking that all that frozen stuff has to make an ice/slush ball in there... and that when Shoemaker-Levy 9 smacked into it, the resulting scars were not just clouds that moved over a little, but the splash from the rocks hitting SOMETHING.... yes? no?.....cuz really.... IF there was NO solidity to the planet, then when the comet fragments hit it, wouldn't they have gone on THRU it and popped out the other side?.... they were travelling fast enuff!.... and even if the pressures were great inside the gasbag, would the comet have just been absorbed rather than causing those great spots on the face of the planet?.....

Answer 5

Maybe your premise that these Giants have a no solid surface is all wrong. This is the same premise that has been in text books for decades.

Theories are proven or disproved, but many lay in limbo for years, decades, even centuries as you know.

Maybe you should challenge the theory to NASA, CAL-TECH, MIT, SANDIA LABS and others.

Seems to me that with the temps involved that the mass/density is wrong and perhaps a solid metal ball should hit something!

Answer 6

You are right. Below a sea of liquid hydrogen it is believed that Jupiter has a solid core. The other gas planets likely differ because they are smaller with less gravitational attraction and mass.

Answer 7

I would expect a core of some kind to create the gravity to hold the gases and the moons in place

Answer 8

i have trouble understanding how for their surface area clouds stay afloat, so i know your suffering!

Answer 9

Ice i guess.