Diamond Melts into Metallic Liquid Carbon at Sun-Heat Temperatures Under Planetary Pressures
Scientists at LLNL’s Omega laser facility squeezed synthetic diamonds to about one terapascal and temperatures around 7,300 kelvin, watching the crystal lattice vanish as the diamond melted into a dense, metallic liquid carbon with no intermediate phase. The result pins the melting temperature at ~7,300 K at 1 TPa, resolving a roughly 20-year discrepancy with simulations and confirming diamond’s melt into an electrically conducting carbon fluid under extreme conditions.
