How the Universe Works: Uranus & Neptune Rise of the Ice Giants ep.4 2018
The ice giants Uranus and Neptune are mysterious, icy worlds at the edge of the solar system; new discoveries reveal that these strange planets may have helped start life on Earth.
[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://video-clump.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/How-the-Universe-Works-Uranus-Neptune-Rise-of-the-Ice-Giants-ep.4-2018.mp4"][/video]
An ice giant is a giant planet composed mainly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. There are two known ice giants in the Solar System, Uranus and Neptune.
In astrophysics and planetary science the term "ices" refers to volatile chemical compounds with freezing points above about 100 K, such as water, ammonia, or methane, with freezing points of 273 K, 195 K, and 91 K, respectively (see Volatiles). In the 1990s, it was realized that Uranus and Neptune are a distinct class of giant planet, separate from the other giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn. They have become known as ice giants. Their constituent compounds were solids when they were primarily incorporated into the planets during their formation[citation needed], either directly in the form of ices or trapped in water ice. Today, very little of the water in Uranus and Neptune remains in the form of ice. Instead, H2O primarily exists as supercritical fluid at the temperatures and pressures within them.
Ice giants consist of only about 20% hydrogen and helium in mass, as opposed to the Solar System's gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, which are both more than 90% hydrogen and helium in mass.
Modelling the formation of the terrestrial and gas giants is relatively straightforward and uncontroversial. The terrestrial planets of the Solar System are widely understood to have formed through collisional accumulation of planetesimals within the protoplanetary disc. The gas giants—Jupiter, Saturn, and their extrasolar counterpart planets—are thought to have formed after solid cores around 10 Earth masses (M⊕) formed through the same process, while accreting gaseous envelopes from the surrounding solar nebula over the course of a few to several million years (Ma), although alternative models of core formation based on pebble accretion have recently been proposed. Some extrasolar giant planets may instead have formed via gravitational disk instabilities.
The formation of Uranus and Neptune through a similar process of core accretion is far more problematic. The escape velocity for the small protoplanets about 20 astronomical units (AU) from the centre of the Solar System would have been comparable to their relative velocities. Such bodies crossing the orbits of Saturn or Jupiter would have been liable to be sent on hyperbolic trajectories ejecting them from the system. Such bodies, being swept up by the gas giants, would also have been likely to just be accreted into the larger planets or thrown into cometary orbits.
[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://video-clump.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/How-the-Universe-Works-Uranus-Neptune-Rise-of-the-Ice-Giants-ep.4-2018.mp4"][/video]
Ice giants
An ice giant is a giant planet composed mainly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. There are two known ice giants in the Solar System, Uranus and Neptune.
In astrophysics and planetary science the term "ices" refers to volatile chemical compounds with freezing points above about 100 K, such as water, ammonia, or methane, with freezing points of 273 K, 195 K, and 91 K, respectively (see Volatiles). In the 1990s, it was realized that Uranus and Neptune are a distinct class of giant planet, separate from the other giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn. They have become known as ice giants. Their constituent compounds were solids when they were primarily incorporated into the planets during their formation[citation needed], either directly in the form of ices or trapped in water ice. Today, very little of the water in Uranus and Neptune remains in the form of ice. Instead, H2O primarily exists as supercritical fluid at the temperatures and pressures within them.
Ice giants consist of only about 20% hydrogen and helium in mass, as opposed to the Solar System's gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, which are both more than 90% hydrogen and helium in mass.
Formation of ice giants
Modelling the formation of the terrestrial and gas giants is relatively straightforward and uncontroversial. The terrestrial planets of the Solar System are widely understood to have formed through collisional accumulation of planetesimals within the protoplanetary disc. The gas giants—Jupiter, Saturn, and their extrasolar counterpart planets—are thought to have formed after solid cores around 10 Earth masses (M⊕) formed through the same process, while accreting gaseous envelopes from the surrounding solar nebula over the course of a few to several million years (Ma), although alternative models of core formation based on pebble accretion have recently been proposed. Some extrasolar giant planets may instead have formed via gravitational disk instabilities.
The formation of Uranus and Neptune through a similar process of core accretion is far more problematic. The escape velocity for the small protoplanets about 20 astronomical units (AU) from the centre of the Solar System would have been comparable to their relative velocities. Such bodies crossing the orbits of Saturn or Jupiter would have been liable to be sent on hyperbolic trajectories ejecting them from the system. Such bodies, being swept up by the gas giants, would also have been likely to just be accreted into the larger planets or thrown into cometary orbits.
