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KaneHau t1_j5kk6zz wrote

Well, first, gas has mass - and in Jupiters case, it adds up to a lot of mass.

Second, Jupiter has pressure - huge pressure the further down you go - so yes, at some point there will probably be areas of metallic gasses, etc.

Whether there is a solid core or not is still unknown.

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hatschi_gesundheit t1_j5kmkca wrote

We did see Shoemaker-Levy crash into Jupiter (any others?), so there are at least some heavier elements somewhere down there.

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KaneHau t1_j5kn9oa wrote

Plenty of rocks crash into gas giants. The problem is they don't survive more than a mile or so before being completely broken apart by the extreme winds, temperatures and pressure.

So by the point you get, say, two miles down - there are really no large objects of any type. Instead you get bands, based on the pressure, where elements like to accumulate. But they would be more like a fluid than a solid.

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hatschi_gesundheit t1_j5kxlev wrote

But would not the heavier/denser elements sink to the core eventually ? It might be a molten core or some other, more exotic aggregation state, but still. Certainly not a gas.

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hackintoshfun OP t1_j5kkf0q wrote

That's what I mean is solid core.

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KaneHau t1_j5kl0zo wrote

I was once lecturing along side a NASA scientist (I'm ex-NASA) and she was explaining the gas giants. Afterwards, I took her aside and said "considering the pressure of gas giants, and all the stuff falling in, doesn't it make sense that there is a solid core, even if tiny?".

She agreed that it does make sense.

However, technologically, we can't probe that deep yet (it's just too big with too many complex layers).

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