Are there gas oceans under Jupiter's , Saturn's , Uranus' and Neptune's clouds ?

Question

And will Mankind ever be able to build starships and or colonies able to surf on these Gas Oceans ?

Answer 1

Could well be but no, the gravity and intense radiation makes surfing too dangerous.

Answer 2

for me, a gas cannot be an ocean. oceans are liquids, and gases are not liquids (by definition). However, there are almost certainly oceans of liquids that are not water which cover or partially cover the larger planets. Volatile gases will condense into liquids with enough pressure, assuming they are present in sufficient concentrations. That is effectively what water is, on Earth. A volatile that condenses because the pressure is too high for the temperature and concentration (the atmosphere is saturated). In contrast, volatiles like CO2 and CH4 do not condense under earth-surface conditions. this does not mean that they will not ever do so. It simply means that the conditions here are not appropriate for that to happen.

Answer 3

Uranus may have a gas ocean.

Answer 4

No idea. And as long as organisations like nasa are insanely obsessed with Mars and it's alleged boogiemen, it is unlikely that we will ever find out.



Cheers!

Answer 5

My crystal ball is off for polishing.

Answer 6

Maybe and there will never be surfing . There are probably no waves anyway

Answer 7

Gas Oceans? By that definition Earth has one that we call the air. We build vehicles to navigate it but so far no one has attempted to actually colonise it!



Yes you could use planes or airships in the atmospheres of the gas giants. Basically you can use them in any atmosphere. Even Mars has just enough of one to use lifting gases in. You could support a manned base via some sort of dirigible on the gas giants (probably not on Jupiter due to the horrible radiation levels and punishing gravity) with a few hundred km depth of nice fluffy clouds to navigate through. A probe may be sent to do this but I don't imagine any people trying that in the foreseeable future. The Moons of the outer planets would make more useful bases and exploration wise are potentially more interesting (and less suicidal).



In the case of Jupiter (Saturn is similar but somewhat less massive), the atmospheric pressure beneath the cloud layers just continues to climb with depth. light will not penetrate far beneath the clouds and after a few km it will be perpetual darkness. At about 1000km down the atmosphere gradually transitions from being a thick fog to being a liquid of molecular hydrogen. Keep on heading down for several thousand more km and there comes a point where hydrogen is so pressurised that it forms a different phase of matter known as metallic hydrogen. At this jaw dropping pressure millions of times that atmospheric pressure of Earth It would behave as a kind of ultra-dense superconducting fluid metal. We will never be able to build a probe sturdy enough to survive a plunge to the depths where metallic hydrogen occurs. Beneath that may be some sort of rock and metal core.



Beneath the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune is probably some sort of thick slush of ices surrounding a rock core. Like with Saturn and Jupiter you would not want to venture below the cloud layers. The pressures may not be quite as punishing as their larger siblings but it's more than to destroy anything we could send. A probe deep in the Uranian or Neptunian atmosphere would be crushed up like a Styrofoam cup.

Answer 8

Well, the atmospheres of these planets get thicker and thicker as you go deeper; eventually, you'll reach a point where you're unable to determine if it's gas or liquid you're traveling through, and as you get deeper, it becomes a thicker liquid... To 'surf', I'd imagine you'd need a definite transition layer - like the surface of Earth's oceans and air - because the gradual thickening of gas into a liquid wouldn't give you that ability to easily cut through the medium.... And, to boot: where the 'liquid' atmosphere begins is under an awful lot of pressure - your spacesuit would likely implode before you had a chance to hang ten...

Answer 9

"Gas" is a confusing term! It describes a type of element and compounds as well as a state of mater!

What is a gas in our conditions is said to be liquid on some planets. The pressure and temperatures for these materials is such that we at this point (to the best of my knowledge) make for engineering problems we do not have solutions to. Most of our known materials become brittle under these conditions and are not suitable for use to build such craft with.

It may be possible but we have to learn a lot more before it could be done.