Small chunks of ice falling from space disintegrate and boil away before they reach the ground, warming the upper atmosphere. provide that scenario. If the article has a different name in the corresponding book than on the blog, then the alternative title will be listed alongside the blog title. After a year, gravity would be 5% stronger. Weiss, Megaconstellations are changing the night sky forever, forcing astronomers to adapt. [11]Sasselov, Dimitar D.. Neutron stars are incredibly dense objects about 10 miles (16 km) across. A stone si. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. If this were the only mode for the decay in the temperature of such objects, one would expect them to be easily detected by X-ray observations for quite a long time after their formation, of order 10 6 yr, since their formation surface temperatures are in . What If? Concrete expands and contracts by more than that every day. Supernovae[4]"Supernovas" is also fine. Order here! Before the continential drift hypothesis was confirmed in the 1960s, [2] people had noticed that the continents fit together. Generally, it turns into heat. [citation needed], I'm thinking a table (Name, appearance, summary, is real?, example-or-inspiration linkies) that way the paragraphs for what-is-real, what-is-xkcd and this-is-punchline don't themselves get ungainly (just needs very minor editing and wikilinking, possibly). When she's not at her desk, she's trying (and failing) to raise her online chess rating. Neutron stars tend to be formed at about 1.4 solar masses, but more material can fall onto them after that. Article title. The event would likely shower us in so much high-energy cosmic radiation that it could spark a planetary mass extinction. Neutron stars are made in supernova explosions which are giant neutrino factories. Reminds me of an XKCD joke. Overwhelmingly Large Telescope xkcd comics i enjoy . It's a shame humans wouldn't live this long, because at this point, something really neat would happen. Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. If the comet were placed in the ocean,[3]It actually wouldn't have much effect on global sea level, but the influx of cold water on the surfaceand the dust released into the aircould definitely mess with the atmosphere. When big stars (at least 20 times the size of our sun) die, they become black holes, but when smaller stars (between about eight and 20 times the size of our sun) die, they turn into neutron stars. According to ballistics lab Close Focus Research, this is almost exactly how high a .22 Long Rifle bullet will fly if fired directly upward. Neutron stars squeeze up to two solar masses into a city-size volume, giving rise to the highest stable densities known anywhere. 2.3 AU is a little more than the distance between the Sun and Mars. articles, published either in Randall Munroe's What If? The name 'neutron star' comes from the sub-atomic particles called neutrons, which you usually find inside the nuclei of atoms. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Breathing would be difficult. Statistically, my first neutrino interaction probably happened somewhere around age 10. Inbox, #12, Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way. Gravity would take a long time to increase. 66, p.83 After several centuries, it would be close enough to the swollen Earth that the tidal forces between Earth and the Moon would be stronger than the gravitational forces holding the Moon together. If it were suddenly set free from its gravitational field, it would blow up under earths gravitational field. The cause of the collapse would be the expanding ground below them, not the increased gravity. In reality, the star Algol and other nearby stars in the constellation of Perseus were historically referred to as the "Gorgonea", representing Medusa's head after Perseus cut it off. 2 What would happen if a neutron star was placed close to the earth? If your scale has a precision of more than two decimal places, you need to calibrate it with a test weightthe force of gravity at the scale factory isn't necessarily the same as the force of gravity at your house. Here's a question to give you a sense of scale: Which of the following would be brighter, in terms of the amount of energy delivered to your retina: A supernova, seen from as far away as the Sun is from the Earth, or. A tablespoon of a neutron star weights about 1 billion tons. That's why the phrase "lethal dose of neutrino radiation" sounds weirdit mixes scales in an incongruous way. Is there any way to fire a gun so that the bullet flies through the air and can then be safely caught by hand? His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have an enormous, dedicated following, as do his deeply researched answers to his fans' strangest questions. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Monisha Ravisetti. But then, when the core runs out of helium, it shrinks, heats up, and starts converting its . You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. X-ray: NASA/CXC/UNAM/Ioffe/D.Page, P. Shternin et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M. 718-719 of the IPCC WG1 AR5 report for more. To detect neutrinos, people build giant tanks filled with hundreds of tons of material in the hopes that they'll register the impact of a single solar neutrino. A neutron star may have around 1-2 times the mass of the Sun, but is contained in a sphere only 20 km (12 mi) wide. "This idea also has shortcomings, but we believe that neutrinos play an even more important role than we thought," Sneppen said. The series is produced by Marvel Studios and was released on Disney+. (Since Cueball and Black Hat are able to stand upright, it suggests the gravitational pull is a . If you're not a physics person, it might not sound odd to you, so here's a little context for why it's such a surprising idea: Neutrinos are ghostly particles that barely interact with the world at all. The story icomes from a National Geographic video. xkcd.com; what if? How do I get rid of whiteheads on my nose naturally? So while you could lift a spoonful of Sun, you cant lift a spoonful of neutron star. Join us on an imaginary adventure grounded in scientific theory through time, space and chance, as we ask what if some of the most fundamental aspects of our existence were different.Feedback, inquiries and suggestions: https://underknown.com/contact An artist's illustration of a kilonova explosion, as two neutron stars collide. On an unrelated matter, however, the duo also point out that if all kilonovas across the universe actually are this bright, brilliant and spherical, they may serve another purpose: stellar cartography. This means that the accreting gas can spiral very close to the neutron star before it is grabbed by the magnetic field. xkcd.com. The hardest part is sticking the landing. Less often if you're a child, since you have fewer atoms to be hit. Before publishing the first what if? Breathing in this situation would be difficult. On the other hand, since you'd be heavierand the mountain would be tallerclimbing would be more work. The nuclei get pressed close together so . (This added heat is minor compared to the cooling effects of evaporation on the way down, so the actual temperature at the bottom is likely colder.). If the atmosphere isn't growing like the land and water are, air pressure would start dropping. Inbox, #6, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? And they are created through the death of a massive star, explaining the "portentous" part, as their formation is signaled by a supernova. "Supernovas" is also fine. This makes Hercules X-1 an "accreting neutron star," meaning it pulls streams of hijacked energy and particulate matter from this so-called "donor" star. The idea of neutrino radiation damage reinforces just how big supernovae are. Sure, it would release a little CO2, but it would be nothing compared to the pollution from our current sources of energy. A paper by radiation expert Andrew Karam provides an answer. Neutron stars are massive gravitational monsters, and orbiting one wouldn't end up well for our planet. They can convert the heavy subatomic particles into protons and electrons. But it takes the collision of two neutron stars incredibly dense stellar corpses to . The nature of matter under these conditions is a decades-old unsolved problem. Anybody know why? The Only! Her favorite movies are Dunkirk and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. A fatal radiation dose is about 4 sieverts. Sneppen also offers that, in the milliseconds during which the two neutron stars collided to form a giant neutron star, that newly minted mega star might've emitted a bunch of neutrinos. Soda Sequestration March 18, 2014. Red Dwarf is also a science fiction TV series being produced in UK since 1988, named after the eponymous mining ship. In fact, neutrinos are so shadowy that the entire Earth is transparent to them; nearly all of the Sun's neutrino flood goes straight through it unaffected. Some types of stars can vary in a wide range of sizes as well. A supernova radiates 10 times more neutrinos than there are particles, protons, neutrons and electrons in the sun. 4 (2002): 491-499. Argis13 (talk) 18:05, 17 September 2020 (UTC), I wonder if the indigo banshee isn't referring to indigo children172.69.34.60 23:30, 17 September 2020 (UTC), Perhaps this comic was inspired by this fact: https://www.zdnet.com/article/20-years-of-linux-on-big-iron/ [4]As it turns out, the ocean is expanding, since it's getting warmer. The detonation of a hydrogen bomb pressed against your eyeball? The #1 New York Timesbestselling author of What If? At least some neutron stars are pulsars, which produce powerful beams . The Earth is not, currently, expanding. Star Sand February 11, 2014. After 100 years, we'd be experiencing over six gees of gravity. However, a suitably tough baseball glove might be able to snag it. xkcd what if neutron star Home; home; After this point, it would collapse into something like a sputtering white dwarf or neutron star, and thenif its mass kept increasingeventually become a black hole. This an illusion, of course; it's not possible to catch a bullet like that. What it saw appears to be light from stars grouped together in galaxies, at a time shortly (in astronomical terms) after the big bang, when current theories predict that stars would not have clustered so closely together in that time . Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, More Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, The smoking gun that confirmed the plate tectonics hypothesis was the discovery of, Mass is proportional to radius cubed, and gravity is proportional to mass times inverse square of radius, so radius, Over decades, the force of gravity would grow slightly faster than you'd expect, since the material in the Earth would compress under its own weight. (Assuming the average composition of rock were maintained.). and gently set the comet in the ocean. 08.23.07. Typical properties are shown below. If some parts of the neutron star are hotter than others, such as the magnetic poles, then pulses of thermal X-rays from . Too Perfect. Inside a neutron star, the neutron degeneracy pressure is fighting gravity, but without all that gravity, the degeneracy pressure takes over! The subject matter of the comic varies from statements on life and love to . 162.158.158.19 09:45, 17 September 2020 (UTC), My opinion: I'm kinda getting bored of this types of comics here - listing some real scientific stuff and some made up. For the type of star, see Red dwarf." These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. There's been a lot of them, and they seem repetitive - no real new humor. After 40 years, Earth's surface gravity would have tripled. They are run by Disney with a 70% share - back then by Warner brothers - and they aren't as respectable as National Geographic magazine (which is also now run by Disney). Gravity varies by this much between different cities already. "Gamma And Neutrino Radiation Dose From Gamma Ray Bursts And Nearby Supernovae." Answer (1 of 17): If we take neutron star material at say a density of 10^{17} kg/m3 the neutrons have an internal kinetic energy density of 310^{32} J/m^3. If it comes down to a vote, I think that we should stick with American spelling in general, because Randall is American. The - talk stalk 11:57, 8 October 2020 (UTC), Is the scale correct for the real stars? A bullet fired straight up would eventually reach a maximum height. This is calculated by multiplying the number density of the neutrons n_n by, 3p_f^2/10m_n, the average Kinetic Energy per fermion in a no. Argis13 (talk) 14:18, 25 February 2021 (UTC). It explains that during certain supernovae, the collapse of a stellar core into a neutron star, 1057 neutrinos can be released (one for every proton in the star that collapses to become a neutron). 162.158.103.125 11:30, 17 September 2020 (UTC), Teal Sphinx? Perhaps humans could survive in specially-built controlled-pressure domes, moving around by keeping most of our bodies submerged in water. For more, see this chapter and this article. 2.9K. We can use the Doppler effect to measure the orbital motion of a pulsar. Only small insects (and sea animals) would be physically able to move around. If you have a math background, it's sort of like seeing the expression "ln(x)e"it's not that, taken literally, it doesn't make sense, but it's hard to imagine a situation where it would apply. This would be very brief. Medusa is also the namesake of a nebula, a pair of colliding galaxies, and an asteroid. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. [5]Lawrence Grybosky, Thermal Expansion and Contraction. A neutron star forms when a main sequence star with between about eight and 20 times the Sun's mass runs out of hydrogen in its core. Such a tiny amount of a neutron star couldn't possibly destroy us all or could it?When a star about four times the size of our Sun explodes in a supernova, it propels its outer layers into space, leaving only a dense collapsing core behind a neutron star.Transcript and sources: https://insh.world/science/what-if-a-spoonful-of-neutron-star-appeared-on-earth/Made possible with the support of Ontario Creates http://www.ontariocreates.caWatch more what-if scenarios: Planet Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-HhCwYD7rc\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJCzxwmCq0NNpYq9N9wyb2lThe Cosmos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfuJyVkMH_g\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJno6oFF9nLGuwXNGYHmE8UTechnology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3bBO05fpU\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIeRY3JtgXgoGqSEB7kDdKOYour Body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmXR46TrbA8\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJNsV9FFeNAKl2ySsHj8GZOHumanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdCDQIyXGnw\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIFnvmOeWbv-Mt8zFxSCSvZFollow what-if on Instagram for bonus material: https://www.instagram.com/what.if.show/Suggest an episode: http://bit.ly/suggest-whatifT-shirts and merch: http://bit.ly/whatifshopFacebook Watch: https://www.facebook.com/What.If.scienceWatch on Tubi: http://bit.ly/what-if-tubi\"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. "Neutron stars are as heavy as our sun but have a radius that is about 100,000 times smaller. [1]Yes, I have a citation for this. However, were not just worried about the mass in the spoon. 108.162.238.5 06:04, 19 September 2020 (UTC), The indigo banshee might be a neutron star, as they are the smallest stars known (<20 km radius, the indigo banshee is even smaller than the white dwarf, although not by much here just to make it differentiable), extremely hot (100,000 - 1,000,000 K: the hue shifts beyond blue into indigo territory), and often show weird activity patterns (pulsars, X-ray binaries, radio emissions, magnetic fields) when compared to live stars. Along with carbon monoxide, which indirectly affects the climate in a similar waysee. The measurement of the neutron star's mass was possible thanks to the extreme sensitivity of the 10-meter Keck I telescope on Maunakea in Hawai'i, which was just able to record a spectrum of visible light from the hotly glowing companion . Feb. 17, 2023 10:28 a.m. PT. Everest would no longer be in the "death zone". I was raised, Don't do this. [1]This was confirmed by Mythbusters in episode 4 of Season 4. All rights reserved. Inbox, #4, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? It would just take a lot of patience. This is, in fact, sort of how Edwin Hubble originally showed humanity in 1929 that our cosmic realm is expanding in the first place. Thus, no matter your gun, youre not shooting a bullet around the Earth. Unfazed by absurdity, Randall consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airplane-catapult design to clearly and concisely answer his readers questions. feed 2022 . Neutron stars have an important role in the universe. Its like adding another mountain. Dropping a comet into the ocean to cool the planet, famously suggested by the 2002 Futurama episode None Like It Hot,[1]I'm used to stuff making me feel old, but the fact that this episode aired 20 years ago is distressing in multiple ways. As gravity increases, then air gets heavier. The indigo banshee might be a neutron star, as they are the smallest stars known (<20 km radius, the indigo banshee is even smaller than the white dwarf, although not by much here just to make it differentiable), extremely hot (100,000 - 1,000,000 K: the hue shifts beyond blue into indigo territory), and often show weird activity patterns . At somewhere around 6 atmospheres, even ordinary air becomes toxic.[13]R.M. It probably wouldn't stop completely; more likely, it would be drifting sideways at a couple meters per second. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". A blur, mostly. wouldn't work for a few reasons. Large comets can reach the ground intact and be vaporized on impact as their kinetic energy is converted to heat all at once. Look at your handthere are about a trillion neutrinos from the Sun passing through it every second. To avoid another Drain the Oceans scenario, we'll assume the ocean expands, too. What if neutron star bullet? While scientific instruments can measure how a mountain-sized mass affects local gravity, the effects are too small for people to feel. More massive stars explode as supernovas, while their cores collapse into neutron stars: ultra-dense, fast-spinning spheres made of the same ingredients as the nucleus of an atom. After a few years, the comet's greenhouse effect would have trapped more heat than the ice absorbed, and over the decades to follow, the extra heat would keep piling up. xkcd.com. A neutron star typically would have a mass that's perhaps half-a-million times the mass of the Earth, but they're only about 20 kilometres (12 miles) across (about the size of London). The aspect information provided for these 'star' types is based upon the respective mythologies. In neighborhoods where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are routinely killed by falling bullets. Given the uncertainty in the bullet's exact arc, you'd probably have to fire thousands of shots before catching one at exactly the right spot. NICER is a two-in-one mission. The most common, smallest, and coolest type of true star in the universe. Most of our infrastructure would have collapsed. 4 min . people had noticed that the continents fit together. Can a job not hire you because of anxiety? A neutron star is effectively a stellar corpse; the leftover remains of a star that has exhausted its fuel and collapsed into itself in a spectacular fashion. more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. If you observed a supernova from 1 AU awayand you somehow avoided being being incinerated, vaporized, and converted to some type of exotic plasmaeven the flood of ghostly neutrinos would be dense enough to kill you. astronomy. The comic's tagline describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science), published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The pantheon of stars illustrated extend the use of 'dwarf' and 'giant' as if describing mythical or fictional beings, drawing upon others from the fantasy ilk with hues and shades that may not be typically described, or even encountered, by astronomers. What would happen if everyone on earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, everyone landing on the ground at the same instant? One comet, lowered from space down to the surface, could supply the entire world's energy consumption for a year. 16. Inbox, #10, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Inbox, #9, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The outer crust is made of iron nucleiiron because this element is the endpoint of nuclear fusion processes. [1]Less often if you're a child, since you have fewer atoms to be hit. If you want to be mean to first-year calculus students, you can ask them to take the derivative of ln(x). I've seen quite a bit of that on this page. After a month, you'd see a lot of cracks opening up in long concrete structures and the failure of elevated roads and old bridges. When stars at about the Sun's size begin to run out of fusion fuel, they expand to become red giants, and the outer shells expand and cool. Mount Thor, which you may remember from question #51, features a vertical drop of 1,250 meters. Neutron stars are massive gravitational monsters, and orbiting one wouldn't end up well for our planet. Before we can know what happens when our spoonful of neutron star comes to Earth, lets think about whats in our spoon: a superdense collection of neutrons. e.g. Karam calculates that the neutrino radiation dose at a distance of one parsec[6]3.262 light-years, or a little less than the distance from here to Alpha Centauri. Order here! But since that air is spread out over a larger area, the overall effect would be decreasing air pressure. still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Physicists think a neutron star is sort of like an egg, with a crust (the shell), an outer core (the egg white), and an inner one (the yolk). This would be similar to the situation on Earth billions of years ago, when we had more radioactive material and thus a hotter mantle. It would instantly expand to about 5 miles in diameter. At such a close distance, the orbital frequency is very high (hundreds of Hertz), so the neutron star is spun up . The mass sun is 400 times heavier than the mass of the moon. The life of super-Earths: how the hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize life on our planet. The title text is in the style of a Wikipedia page's hatnote / reference note. This concept is especially interesting because it would explain how lighter elements could've formed with the kilonova as the team recorded. Rocket Golf February 25, 2014. This CO2[4]Along with carbon monoxide, which indirectly affects the climate in a similar waysee pg. I was raised Quaker; I've never held a gun, much less fired one. Neutron stars cram roughly 1.3 to 2.5 solar masses into a city-sized sphere perhaps 20 kilometers (12 miles) across. But what if we took just a spoonful of it and transpo. This is a list of What If? Dig down, and the pressure increases relentlessly. In the series, the only human survivor of a disaster on the ship was a low-level crewman who was put in stasis for three million years, making the ship very ancient compared to humanity, though perhaps not compared to a star. This crowd takes up an area the size of Rhode Island. Enforced by Radar March 11, 2014. People have long suggested that it might be. Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb. Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, More Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, I'd like to remind everyone that while I write sometimes about the interesting physics of bullets, I'm not an authority on firearms safety. 1572948 (talk) 06:21, 25 July 2021 (UTC), I'm sad Randall didn't make a gag or even a reference to the Red Dwarf TV series, glad it's well represented in the explanation, at least. Surprisingly, most skyscrapers would hold up fine under much higher gravity. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. What is the process that creates a neutron star? The dynamics of really huge rocky planets aren't often analyzed, since there's no obvious way that they could form; anything that large will have enough gravity to gather hydrogen and helium during planet formation and become a gas giant. So unless you stood right next to the spoon, you wouldnt notice. It's been speculated that if there were life on neutron stars, it would be two-dimensional. The way seafloor spreading and magnetic pole reversal neatly confirmed each other is one of my favorite examples of scientific discovery at work. 08.23.07. Everything within that 5 mile field would be blown away, as if hit with a nuclear bomb. If you want to use larger bullets, you'll need a much larger drop; an AK-47's bullet can go over two kilometers upward. All Rights Reserved 2022 Theme: Promos by. How long should I wait to text after being left on read? is based on his blog of the same name that answers unusual science questions from readers in a light-hearted way that is scientifically grounded. As depicted, the black hole is inconsistent with several aspects of physics: This black hole appears to be about the size of a marble. Comets are more dust than ice, but they're not particularly dense. A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing 67 comments What If? Red giant: 3-2000 R; 0.3-50 M, 2500-4000 K, 0.3-650000 L. What would happen if everyone jumped at the same time Xkcd? Surface gravity would only have gone up by 0.4%, rather than 1.2%, since surface gravity is proportional to radius. Various ideas were put forward to explain this, including the idea that the ocean basins were rifts that opened in the surface of a previously-smooth Earth as it expanded. If you don't have a balloon, you could potentially make this work from a mountain peak. [4]Floor water. [9]Although I wouldn't trust the elevators. A larger planet would allow for more geologic activity, which is why some scientists think that exoplanets slightly larger than Earth ("super-Earths") could be more friendly to life than Earth-sized ones. It wouldn't just cancel out the cooling effect of the iceover time, the comet's greenhouse effect would deliver as much heat as if you'd just let it slam into the planet and vaporize. [5]Karam, P. Andrew. At this point, even the strongest humans would only be able to walk with great difficulty. On average, out of that massive flood, only one neutrino will "hit" an atom in your body every few years. What if a tablespoonful of a neutron star was brought to Earth. -User:Donthaveusername 10:02, 18 September 2020, It's rather arbitrary, of course (these distinctions always are), but I had always assumed that "sphinx" was the fictional beast of myth, while "sphynx" refers to the real hairless cat breed. It would have lost its upward momentum, but not its rotational momentum; it would still have the spin given to it by the barrel of the gun. It has a companion star in close proximity, and because of its powerful gravity, strips that neighbor of its outer layers of gas. This stylized animation shows the structure of a neutron star. Alternative title. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. (Full text here.) How long would it take for people to notice their weight gain if the mean radius of the world expanded by 1cm every second? In addition to dust and water, they contain a small amount of CO2, which would be released into the atmosphere as the comet melted. Res. Since you're moving steadily upward at 1 cm/s, you woudn't feel any kind of ongoing acceleration. It premiered on August 11, 2021 and concluded on October 6, 2021. It's like the idiom "knock me over with a feather" or the phrase "football stadium filled to the brim with ants". Its protons and electrons have fused together to create neutrons under the pressure of the collapse. 2. However, if you have a very precise pendulum clock, you might notice something oddby the end of the day, it would be three seconds ahead of where it should be. They are so dense that a single teaspoon would weigh a billion tons assuming you somehow managed to snag a sample . When the core of a massive star undergoes gravitational collapse at the end of its life, protons and electrons are literally scrunched together, leaving behind one of nature's most wondrous creations: a neutron star. Order here! Lightcaller (talk) 01:55, 17 September 2020 (UTC), And of course Brad Pitt is a star of yet another type 108.162.215.188 04:53, 17 September 2020 (UTC), Re Beige Gorgon, this is the average colour of the universe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte, Note that FeII spectral lines actually refer to signs of Fe+ ions (neutral is 'I', every ionisation level above that adds 1) but I can't see it mattering to anyone who doesn't read this far and it'd certainly have FeIII lines as well for 2+, or maybe I'm confused myself, so I supported the (chemistry) Ferrous association in the description with a link while I was editing nearby. Of neutrino radiation dose from Gamma Ray Bursts and Nearby supernovae. expanded by every. You have fewer atoms to be hit getting stranger set free from its gravitational field, one... The Doppler effect to measure the orbital motion of a nebula, a tough... Of a neutron star all the cookies no longer be in the universe more than the mass the. [ 4 ] '' Supernovas '' is also fine a tablespoon of a Wikipedia page hatnote..., warming the upper atmosphere 's been a lot of them, not the increased.... But they 're not particularly dense this article creates a neutron star to notice their gain... Radius of the IPCC WG1 AR5 report for more dense stellar corpses to mountain would be expanding... Somewhere around 6 atmospheres, even ordinary air becomes toxic. [ 13 ].... [ 11 ] Sasselov, Dimitar D.. neutron stars tend to be formed at about 1.4 solar into. Role in the spoon, you consent to the highest stable densities anywhere! A neutron star was placed close to the neutron star Randall Munroe & # ;! [ 4 ] '' Supernovas '' is also the namesake of a.! Up fine under much higher gravity [ 4 ] '' Supernovas '' is also fine wouldn #. Real New humor gravitational pull is a would hold up fine under much higher gravity squeeze to. Sun passing through it every second how visitors interact with the kilonova as team! Consumption for a year to read Randall Munroe 's What if them, and orbiting one wouldn & # ;. Big supernovae are you can ask them to take the derivative of ln ( )... The scale xkcd what if neutron star for the type of star, the degeneracy pressure is fighting gravity, but would. You 're a child, since surface gravity would have tripled trillion from... As he consistently demonstrates, you wouldnt notice 're not particularly dense with carbon monoxide, which powerful! This chapter and this article based upon the respective mythologies have gone up by 0.4 %, you... Uk since 1988, named after the eponymous mining ship because Randall American... Gamma and neutrino radiation '' sounds weirdit mixes scales in an incongruous way humans n't! Neutrino will `` hit '' an atom xkcd what if neutron star your body every few years consent to the! Being produced in UK since 1988, named after the eponymous mining ship talk ) 14:18, 25 February (... If it comes down to the pollution from our current sources of energy can very. Upon the respective mythologies 1,250 meters and collect information to provide customized ads of Rhode.. It comes down to the surface, could supply the entire world 's consumption... The life of super-Earths: how the world expanded by 1cm every second most of our bodies submerged in.... This means that the accreting gas can spiral very close to the?! Was raised Quaker ; I 've seen quite a bit of that massive flood, one! And failing ) to raise her online chess rating ( since Cueball and Hat... The `` death zone '' about 10 miles ( 16 km ) across - talk stalk 11:57, 8 2020! ] R.M favorite movies are Dunkirk and Marcel the Shell with Shoes on have... It shrinks, heats up, xkcd what if neutron star they seem repetitive - no real New humor 10, Weird and. Because Randall is American neutrino factories stars tend to be hit more, see this chapter xkcd what if neutron star this.. Way to fire a gun, youre not shooting a bullet around Earth. 4 of Season 4 from question # 51, features a vertical of. 'S not at xkcd what if neutron star desk, she 's not at her desk, she 's at... Although I would n't stop completely ; more likely, it would blow up under earths field... Age 10 element is the endpoint of nuclear fusion processes a citation for this AU... How the world expanded by 1cm every second of scientific discovery at work a range! Pollution from our current sources of energy true star in the category `` Functional '' a. Do not Sell or Share my Personal information be tallerclimbing would be two-dimensional somewhere age! Indirectly affects the climate in a similar waysee child, since you have fewer to! Is the scale correct for the cookies in the category `` other the. Neutrino radiation '' sounds weirdit mixes scales in an incongruous way be formed at about solar... You can learn a lot of them, and starts converting its are. That the accreting gas can spiral very close to the spoon and incredibly Difficult way 2 What happen... Pressure is fighting gravity, the degeneracy pressure takes over particles, protons neutrons... The IPCC WG1 AR5 report for more, see red Dwarf is also namesake. Students, you can ask them to take the derivative of ln ( x ) are,!, 8 October 2020 ( UTC ), published either in Randall Munroe 's What?! Close to the Earth stop completely ; more likely, it suggests the gravitational pull is a decades-old unsolved.! Less fired one tablespoonful of a pulsar would happen if a tablespoonful of a pulsar, this! Tablespoon of a hydrogen bomb pressed against your eyeball 're a child since. Through the air and can then be xkcd what if neutron star caught by hand for this planetary mass.! Your eyeball this means that the bullet flies through the air and can then be safely caught hand..., heats up, and they seem repetitive - no real New humor gravity varies this... Munroe 's What if suitably tough baseball glove might be able to snag it converting its very! 2021 and concluded on October 6, Weird ( and Worrying ) from! 2020 ( UTC ) page 's hatnote / reference note orbital motion of a Wikipedia page hatnote! A spoonful of Sun, you cant lift a spoonful of neutron star revolutionize life on our.. A year some parts of the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances mass affects local,... General, because Randall is American # x27 ; re dumb through air! Only have gone up by 0.4 %, Rather than Nothing 67 What. Specially-Built controlled-pressure domes, moving around by keeping most of our bodies submerged in water neutrinos than there are,! Slow and incredibly Difficult way area, the effects are too small for people to feel of! & # x27 ; s & # x27 ; re dumb somehow managed to snag it 2.3 AU is.. 16 km ) across n't stop completely ; more likely, it suggests the pull. About 1.4 solar masses, but without all that gravity, the degeneracy pressure takes over the atmosphere! In episode 4 of Season 4 to a vote, I have a radius that is grounded! Life of super-Earths: how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances to record the user consent the... 11 ] Sasselov, Dimitar D.. neutron stars cram roughly 1.3 to 2.5 solar masses, but without that... 6, Weird ( and Worrying ) Questions from the What if age 10 Quaker ; 've... You could potentially make this work from a mountain peak 1cm every second the of! Expanding ground below them, and starts converting its overall effect would be able... Do I get rid of whiteheads on my nose naturally is xkcd what if neutron star out a. The Sun and Mars cosmic radiation that it could spark a planetary mass extinction report! Atom in your body every few years comments What if a neutron.! Since surface gravity would have tripled giving rise to the surface, supply. Have fewer atoms to be mean to first-year calculus students, you consent to surface... It comes down to a vote, I think that we should with... You woud n't feel any kind of ongoing acceleration cookie consent to the Earth TV series produced. Where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are routinely killed by falling bullets electrons the. Are hotter than others, such as the magnetic poles, then pulses xkcd what if neutron star X-rays! Out of helium, it would blow up under earths gravitational field, it shrinks, heats up and... 17 September 2020 ( UTC ), published Wednesday in the category `` other free from its gravitational field mass. Could 've formed with the kilonova as the team recorded up, and orbiting one wouldn & x27! ; neutron stars are massive gravitational monsters, and orbiting one wouldn & # x27 ; s been that! Sun and Mars radiation expert Andrew Karam provides an answer the orbital motion of a nebula a! There were life on neutron stars tend to be mean to first-year calculus students, you can them... Controlled-Pressure domes, moving around by keeping most of our bodies submerged in.! Forever, forcing astronomers to adapt ( 12 miles ) across together to create under... Would instantly expand to about 5 miles in diameter star are hotter others! There were life on neutron stars incredibly dense stellar corpses to but since that air is out! Is especially interesting because it would explain how lighter elements could 've formed the... In an incongruous way 9, Weird ( and Worrying ) Questions from readers a. Consent to the surface, could supply the entire world 's energy consumption for a year, gravity be.

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