Re: Best choice of FTL fuel?

Peter Knutsen wrote:

So of the smaller giants, the ice giants, the larger retain more helium, and also when it comes to the two larger ones, Jupiter retains more than Saturn, but overall the two ice giants retain more helium than the two "true gas giants". That's a very odd progression.

What's the theory on this? Is it because of distance from the sun?

Larger planets can retain lighter molecules. That's why Jupiter and Saturn have large amounts of hydrogen, Uranus and Neptune less, and the terrestrial planets almost none.

Distance from the Sun and other factors certainly may have come into play on determining where the larger gas giants formed and how they evolved from the protoplanetary disk to their current status, but the primary reason that Jupiter and Saturn have much higher proportions of hydrogen than Uranus and Neptune is simply that they're much more massive.

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