"New simulations suggest that Jupiter's rocky core has been liquefying, melting, and mixing with the rest of the planet's innards."
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<!--Xholon Workbook http://www.primordion.com/Xholon/wb/ (C) Ken Webb Fri Mar 30 2012 12:18:12 GMT-0400 (EDT)-->
<XholonWorkbook>
<Notes><![CDATA[
Xholon
------
Title: Jupiter is melting, scientists say
Description: "New simulations suggest that Jupiter's rocky core has been liquefying, melting, and mixing with the rest of the planet's innards."
Url: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/22/jupiter-is-melting-scientists-say/
InternalName:
YoutubeId:
Keywords:
My Notes
--------
This multi-media blog centers around a very simple model and simulation. To run it::
Click the Run button above. An overlay will appear.
Observe the simplified internal structure of Jupiter.
Click the Pause button to start (unpause) the simulation of dynamic mixing.
**March 30, 2012**
Many of my multi-media blogs are based on articles from BBC, CBC, CNN, The New York Times, and other media that I tend to read. Today I'd like to find something from Fox News, which Wikipedia suggests has a more conservative viewpoint. I'm curious to sample their Science & Technology (SciTech) section::
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/index.html
The top trending science (as opposed to technology) story today in SciTech (Wild Nature) is "Marine monster mystery on South Carolina beach". The marine monster is a large Atlantic sturgeon that washed up on the beach.
The first story in SciTech (Planet Earth) is "Mysterious geologic structure seen from space ". It's about the round Richat structure in Mauritania, in Africa's Sahara Desert.
The stories featured today on the SciTech (Science) page are, with the most recent one listed first::
Unearthed fossil foot could belong to new human ancestor, scientists say
Fossilized poop reveals ancient hyena's main dish
Seeing around corners may become next 'superpower'
Whiz Kids: Meet the teenage winners of YouTube’s Space Lab science competition
'Runaway planets' hurled from galaxies at 30 million mph
Jupiter is melting, scientists say
World’s most powerful laser fires most powerful laser blast in history
Mama chimps teach kids to communicate with humans
I'm going to look at the "Jupiter is melting" story, written by Brian Jacobsmeyer at Inside Science News Service (March 22, 2012) under the title "Jupiter's Melting Heart Sheds Light on Mysterious Exoplanet". See also::
http://www.insidescience.org/news-service/jupiter-s-melting-heart-sheds-light-on-mysterious-exoplanet
It talks about the internal structure of Jupiter, which I can represent inside this Xholon Workbook.
The conventional science model is that Jupiter consists of several concentric layers. New computer simulations add support to a mixing model, in which heavier material moves out of the core and mixes with layers above. Materials such as magnesium oxide may be gradually liquifying (melting), which enables them to move. Scientists have proposed this as a mechanism that can work inside any gas giant planet, including Jupiter and exoplanets.
It's a process that I'm sure would work slowly over many millions or billions of years. To me it sounds somewhat similar to volcanos on the Earth, that gradually move new material to the surface.
]]></Notes>
<script implName="lang:python:inline:"><![CDATA[
#print "height = 12.34 m"
]]></script>
<script implName="lang:javascript:inline:"><![CDATA[
//print("height = 56.78 meters\n");
]]></script>
<_-.XholonClass>
<!-- domain objects -->
<PhysicalSystem/>
<GiantPlanet>
<Jupiter/>
<ExoPlanet/> <!-- any planet outside of our solar system -->
</GiantPlanet>
<Layer> <!-- the traditional view is that giant planets have neat layers, with the core at the center -->
<GassyOuterEnvelope/>
<Core/> <!-- rocky -->
</Layer>
<Layers/>
<MagnesiumOxide/>
<HeavyElements/>
</_-.XholonClass>
<xholonClassDetails>
<Core> <!-- Jupiter's core -->
<port name="jupiterCorePressure" connector="#xpointer(Pressure)"/>
<port name="earthAtmosPressure" connector="#xpointer(ancestor::PhysicalSystem/Earth/Pressure)"/>
</Core>
</xholonClassDetails>
<PhysicalSystem>
<Jupiter>
<GassyOuterEnvelope/>
<Core>
<Temperature>7000.0 °C</Temperature>
<Pressure>40000000.0 Pa</Pressure> <!-- "40 million times the air pressure found on Earth at sea level" -->
<MagnesiumOxide multiplicity="4"/> <!-- blobs of a heavy element that can liquify and move upwards -->
</Core>
</Jupiter>
<Earth>
<Pressure>101.325 kPa</Pressure> <!-- standard atmospheric pressure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_(unit)) -->
</Earth>
</PhysicalSystem>
<Blockbehavior implName="lang:python:inline:"><![CDATA[
# This works if pasted in as a last child of Block.
#height.incVal(0.02)
#print("Python wants something to do. Height:" + str(height))
]]></Blockbehavior>
<Blockbehavior implName="lang:javascript:inline:"><![CDATA[
// This works if pasted in as a last child of Block.
//height.incVal(0.02);
//print("JavaScript wants something to do. Height:" + height + "\n");
]]></Blockbehavior>
<Corebehavior implName="lang:webEditionjs:inline:"><![CDATA[
// this will only run once, on the zeroth (first) time step
if (this.application("getTimeStep") == 0) {
this.bindPorts(this.parent());
var jupiterCorePressure = this.jupiterCorePressure.attr('val');
var earthAtmosPressure = this.earthAtmosPressure.attr('val');
print("\nThe pressure in Jupiter's core is more than " + jupiterCorePressure + " times standard atmospheric pressure on Earth.");
print("\nStandard atmospheric pressure on Earth is " + earthAtmosPressure + " " + this.earthAtmosPressure.attr('unit') + ".");
print("\nSo the pressure in kilopascals (kPa) in Jupiter's core is at least " + (jupiterCorePressure * earthAtmosPressure) + ".");
}
]]></Corebehavior>
<MagnesiumOxidebehavior implName="lang:webEditionjs:inline:"><![CDATA[
var svg = $($('div#mySVGDiv > object')[0].contentDocument.getElementsByTagNameNS(svgns, 'svg')[0]);
var myId = this.parent().attr('id') - 6; // should be between 6 and 9 inclusive
var incX = 1;
var incY = 1;
switch (myId) {
case 0: break;
case 1: incX = -1; break;
case 2: incY = -1; break;
case 3: incX = -1; incY = -1; break;
}
var mgo = svg.children('g').children('g').children('g').children('circle').eq(myId);
var r = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2);
switch (r) {
case 0: mgo.attr('cx', mgo.attr('cx')-0+incX); break;
case 1: mgo.attr('cy', mgo.attr('cy')-0+incY); break;
}
]]></MagnesiumOxidebehavior>
<Blockbehavior implName="lang:bsh:inline:"><![CDATA[
// This works if pasted in as a last child of Block.
//height.incVal(0.02);
//System.out.print("Java/Beanshell wants something to do. Height:" + height + "\n");
]]></Blockbehavior>
<Blockbehavior implName="lang:jruby:inline:"><![CDATA[
#require 'java'
# This works if pasted in as a last child of Block.
#$height.incVal(0.02)
#puts "Ruby wants something to do. Height: #{$height}"
]]></Blockbehavior>
<Blockbehavior implName="lang:groovy:inline:"><![CDATA[
// This works if pasted in as a last child of Block.
//height.incVal(0.02);
//System.out.print("Groovy wants something to do. Height:" + height + "\n");
]]></Blockbehavior>
<SvgClient><Attribute_String roleName="svgUri"><![CDATA[data:image/svg+xml,
<svg width="200" height="200" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<g>
<title>View of Jupiter internal layers (not drawn to scale)</title>
<rect id="PhysicalSystem/Jupiter" fill="#fff" height="200" width="200" x="0" y="0"/>
<!-- the layers are not drawn to scale -->
<g>
<title>GassyOuterEnvelope</title>
<circle id="PhysicalSystem/Jupiter/GassyOuterEnvelope" fill="#FFEBCD" cx="100" cy="100" r="95"/>
</g>
<g>
<title>Core</title>
<circle id="PhysicalSystem/Jupiter/Core" fill="#BDD7EE" cx="100" cy="100" r="40"/>
<g><title>Magnesium Oxide from the core</title><circle id="PhysicalSystem/Jupiter/Core/MagnesiumOxide" fill="#fff" cx="100" cy="100" r="5"/></g>
<g><title>Magnesium Oxide from the core</title><circle id="PhysicalSystem/Jupiter/Core/MagnesiumOxide" fill="#fff" cx="100" cy="100" r="5"/></g>
<g><title>Magnesium Oxide from the core</title><circle id="PhysicalSystem/Jupiter/Core/MagnesiumOxide" fill="#fff" cx="100" cy="100" r="5"/></g>
<g><title>Magnesium Oxide from the core</title><circle id="PhysicalSystem/Jupiter/Core/MagnesiumOxide" fill="#fff" cx="100" cy="100" r="5"/></g>
</g>
</g>
</svg>
]]></Attribute_String><Attribute_String roleName="setup">${MODELNAME_DEFAULT},${SVGURI_DEFAULT}</Attribute_String></SvgClient>
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