Neutrons Become Cubes Inside Neutron Stars

Technology Review ^ | 8/11/11

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Ping to the Badger

[Captain Beyond]

bflr

[lurk]

Using this technology, airlines can get more people on a 737.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“airlines can get more people on a 737.”

Didja ever see those melons that the Japanese grow in boxes? Stackable!

[tumblindice]

Three words: square beer bottles.

[VRW Conspirator]

Neutrons Become Cubes Inside Neutron Stars

I knew that! Took them this long to figure it out? maroons

[Joe Brower]

It's worth noting that a stellar mass 1.97 times that of our own sun, Sol, really isn't very big. But at just 2 stellar masses or greater, what is known as the Chandrasekhar Limit is reached, after which even the strong nuclear force cannot resist the pull of gravity, and we have the next (and last) stage in the cycle -- a singularity, or black hole.

It's a strange world we live in. And it's an only too fitting irony that the more deeply we delve into the ultimate nature of reality, the more unreal it becomes.

[FroggyTheGremlim]

[cicero2k]

I know I could look this up but what is the distribution of stars with regard to solar mass? i.e. median star is x solar mass, one standard deviation is y solar mass etc.

[rsobin]

I contend that because the bosons constituting neutrons are asymmetrical and so the neutrons are squeezed into little rectangles instead of cubes.

[LibWhacker]

I’d have to look it up, too (and will because it never hurts to review!). But I do know most stars are dwarf stars and that the Sun is in approximately the 75th percentile when it comes to mass.

[martin_fierro]

[mikrofon]

Now THIS star is simply-

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks martin_fierro. Cubic neutrons... could be an interesting sci-fi dream sequence for SpongeBob.

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[TheOldLady]

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[Gena Bukin]

Thanks for posting. IMHO, neutron stars are some of the most fascinating objects in the universe.

[Savage Beast]

I'm learning plenty on this thread.

You mean our sun's mass is in the 75th percentile??? And all we need is for something of the same mass to come crashing into it, and we're in a black hole???

[Savage Beast]

I'm learning plenty on this thread.

You mean our sun's mass is in the 75th percentile??? And all we need is for something of the same mass to come crashing into it, and we're in a black hole???

[Joe Brower]

I don't know what you mean by '75th percentile'... As stars go, our sun is way down on the small end of the size spectrum.

But yes, you only need twice the mass of our sun to tip the scales into oblivion. The chances of something else of similar mass colliding with Sol, though, are about the equivalent of two gnats hitting each other while flying through the grand canyon.

Space is vast, especially in the outer rim of the Milky Way where we reside, to where the chances of such a thing happening are virtually nonexistent.