The Bedtime Scientist

A question

Does Jupiter have a surface you could stand on?

A calm, true answer. Then, if the wondering keeps going, the whole episode.

The short answer

No. There is no ground beneath Jupiter's clouds, no mountains, no ocean floor. Going down simply means the sky keeps getting thicker.

Deeper in, the pressure grows so enormous that hydrogen stops behaving like a gas and begins to flow like a liquid metal. There is never a moment where you would land. There is only a point where you could go no further.

It is also why the Great Red Spot has been turning for nearly two hundred years. On Earth a hurricane dies when it reaches land, and Jupiter has no land to offer.

Go deeper tonight

Jupiter: A World Made of Sky

The full episode, in one calm voice, with nothing that startles.

The episode

Jupiter: A World Made of Sky

0:00 10:46
Sleep timer

Read the guide for this one in the morning.

This connects to

Gravity Air and pressure

One idea turns up in many different nights. Follow one and the library starts to join up.