Gas Giants & Stars: Do They Have a Solid Part?

[Allen_Wolf]

Are the gas giants and stars only composed of gas particles? Don't they have a solid crust or something? If they don't have a solid part then how can they exist alone?

 

[Chalnoth]

Are the gas giants and stars only composed of gas particles? Don't they have a solid crust or something? If they don't have a solid part then how can they exist alone?

Some gas giants have liquid cores. Some may potentially have solid cores. But for the most part, they're primarily made out of gas. If you ever fell into a gas giant, you'd likely be crushed by the pressure of the atmosphere long before you struck anything solid (or liquid).

Stars are too hot for anything like this. They're composed of plasma, which is a form of matter where electrons aren't bound to atoms. Stars may have differing compositions (heavier elements tend to fall towards the cores of stars), but they're composed of plasma through-and-through.

 

[Allen_Wolf]

Some gas giants have liquid cores. Some may potentially have solid cores. But for the most part, they're primarily made out of gas. If you ever fell into a gas giant, you'd likely be crushed by the pressure of the atmosphere long before you struck anything solid (or liquid).

Stars are too hot for anything like this. They're composed of plasma, which is a form of matter where electrons aren't bound to atoms. Stars may have differing compositions (heavier elements tend to fall towards the cores of stars), but they're composed of plasma through-and-through.

But how can they stay compact even without a solid core?

 

[Orodruin]

But how can they stay compact even without a solid core?

How do you think stars are held together? Why do you think Earth has an atmosphere?

 

[rootone]

But how can they stay compact even without a solid core?

A mass is a mass whatever state it is in, and where there is mass there is gravity.
Gravity is not a property only of solids.

 

[newjerseyrunner]

Solid is just the state where atoms have so little energy that they stick together and stay. The sun's core may be composed to Hydrogen in a plasma state, but it's 150 times as dense as water.