"Supernovii" is discouraged. What If? A supernova radiates 10 times more neutrinos than there are particles, protons, neutrons and electrons in the sun. A stone si. On the other hand, since you'd be heavierand the mountain would be tallerclimbing would be more work. "Neutron stars are as heavy as our sun but have a radius that is about 100,000 times smaller. At this point, even the strongest humans would only be able to walk with great difficulty. In the case of neutron decay, about 0.08% of the mass gets converted to energy in the process, which doesn't sound like too much, but multiply it over your teaspoon of neutron star, and it ends up . Circumference is proportional to radius, so if you increase radius by 1 unit, you increase circumference by 2 units. 2.9K. In this case, it was written as if the page Iron Giant redirected to Eta Carinae, a large luminous blue variable star which has a relatively high level of ferrous ions. As gravity increases, then air gets heavier. The cause of the collapse would be the expanding ground below them, not the increased gravity. This means that when a particle accelerator (which produces neutrinos) wants to send a neutrino beam to a detector somewhere else in the world, all it has to do is point the beam at the detectoreven if it's on the other side of the Earth! 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. Order here! 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. is a blog hosted on the xkcd.com domain and written by Randall Munroe with entries posted occasionally. Stars like our Sun leave behind white dwarfs: Earth-size remnants of the original star's core. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Unfortunately, comets would affect the Earth's temperature in another way. Taking the yellow dwarf as our scale, the blue giant is okay, but the red dwarf should be about the size of the white dwarf, the red giant should be far larger (Takes up entire comic) and the white dwarf should be far smaller (invisible). Similarly, it's so hard to get enough neutrinos to compel even a single one of them to interact with matter, making it hard to picture a scenario in which there'd be enough of them to affect you. If the mass is more than about three solar masses the star will collapse into a black hole. Well, I'd argue,anything except what scientists just observed. But without it, we go nowhere.\" Carl SaganIf you enjoy What If, make sure to check out our other channel \"Underknown\": https://www.youtube.com/c/interestingshitProduced by Underknown in Toronto, What If is a mini-documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities. 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. Concrete expands and contracts by more than that every day. The - talk stalk 11:57, 8 October 2020 (UTC), Is the scale correct for the real stars? After the first day, the Earth would have expanded by 864 meters. 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. When would the Earth eventually become a black hole? 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. [4]Floor water. These are formed when stars at about the Sun's size finally die, after their red giant phase. Applying the physicist rule of thumb suggests that the supernova is brighter. The star starts fusing helium to carbon, like lower-mass stars. That was unexpected. Virtually every mountainside would see massive landslides as material sought out a shallower angle of repose. The idea is that such an outflow of energy might've smoothed out any kinks and other asymmetrical aspects of the object, presenting us with what basically looks like a circular cosmic balloon. You might notice the difference in weight on a scale, but it's not a big deal. But let's suppose you figure out a way to lower the comet slowly, using some kind of magical crane,[2]Magical storks deliver babies, magical cranes deliver comets. Far-Traveling Objects March 4, 2014. \[ x=0.00001118\text{ parsecs}=2.3\text{ AU} \] Neutron stars are the densest things besides black holes. The comet isn't the important part, the crane is. Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, More Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, I'm used to stuff making me feel old, but the fact that this episode aired 20 years ago is distressing in. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. 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/ The life of super-Earths: how the hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize life on our planet. Health Physics 82, no. On the other hand, if the atmosphere is also expanding, surface air pressure would rise. In the scenario where the atmosphere isn't expanding, the air would become thin enough to be difficult to breathe even at sea level. View our Privacy Policy. How long would it take for people to notice their weight gain if the mean radius of the world expanded by 1cm every second? The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out! If a bullet with the density of a neutron star were fired from a . Inbox, #11, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? His 2014 book What If? How close would you have to be to a supernova to get a lethal dose of neutrino radiation? (Heavier stars produce stellar-mass black holes.) 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. :P 172.69.63.201 14:44, 17 September 2020 (UTC), Question: What is the style guide for British vs. American Spelling (e.g., Color vs. Colour) in explain xkcd? wouldn't work for a few reasons. It's hard to answer that, because the premise of the question is that the radius is steadily expanding while the density stays the samewhereas a black hole, the density increases. Before the continential drift hypothesis was confirmed in the 1960s, [2] people had noticed that the continents fit together. Breathing would be difficult. Alternative title. At some point, our growing Earth would reach the point where adding more mass causes it to contract, rather than expand. 2 is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive readers of all ages. would be around half a nanosievert, or 1/500th the dose from eating a banana.[7]xkcd.com/radiation. This page was last edited on 30 December 2022, at 22:23. [5]Close Focus Research, Maximum Altitude For Bullets Fired Vertically. 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. "Gamma And Neutrino Radiation Dose From Gamma Ray Bursts And Nearby Supernovae." At the start of the scenario, the entire Earths population has been magically transported together into one place. Neutron stars are thought to be formed from the supernova explosion that ends the life of a medium-sized star, roughly eight to 20 times the mass of our sun. Everest would no longer be in the "death zone". A normal star of that mass would be more than 1 million miles(1.6 million km) across. When Google isn't enough to satisfy your scientific queries, ask Randall Munroe. 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. Inbox, #5, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Death from Above. still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Plate tectonics play a key role in stabilizing the Earth's climate, and planets smaller than Earth (like Mars) don't have enough internal heat to sustain long-term geologic activity. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Mount Thor, which you may remember from question #51, features a vertical drop of 1,250 meters. The very central region of the star the core collapses, crushing together every proton and electron into a neutron. Well, if you hooked it up to a generator, you could use the slowly-descending comet to produce electricity. 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. Can a planet still function with a damaged moon? Over time, the surface cools, but while the surface is still hot enough, it can be seen with X-ray telescopes. Is there any way to fire a gun so that the bullet flies through the air and can then be safely caught by hand? That star can either be completely destroyed, become a black hole, or become a neutron star.The outcome depends on the dying star's mass and other factors, all of which shape what happens when stars explode in a supernova.. Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the cosmos. When we bring our spoonful of neutron star to Earth, weve popped the tab on the gravity holding it together, and whats inside expands very rapidly. xkcd, sometimes styled XKCD, is a webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. It would just take a lot of patience. Geologic activity would also accelerate. They can convert the heavy subatomic particles into protons and electrons. 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. [2]Which would still be less than 1% of the ants in the world. A full-size comet wouldn't be strong enough to support its own weight, and would collapse like a drying sand sculpture. feed 2022 . As the Earth started expanding, you'd feel a slight jolt, and might even lose your balance for a moment. Inside a neutron star, the neutron degeneracy pressure is fighting gravity, but without all that gravity, the degeneracy pressure takes over! This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Inbox, #4, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? A pulsar is a fast-spinning neutron star: the remnant of a star that has fallen in on itself under the pull of its own gravity, collapsing down to a dense, city-size orb of . Filled with bonkers science, boundless curiosity, and Randalls signature stick-figure comics, What If? #HowTheUniverseWorksA neutron star is one of the most dangerous objects in the universe. Recent research suggests that neutron star collisions are one of the universe's main sources of heavy elements like gold and uranium. (, An invention of Randall's, and a reference to the elves of. 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). 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. This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them). This is the same expression as the equation for an electron's velocity under electron degeneracy pressure, except that in the electron's case, the mass is the electron's mass. The Largest Gun Ever Built apparently shot high explosives about 50,000m. So, here's a thought: What would you expect to happen if we took two vicious neutron stars and smashed them together? When someone uses this quote: "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. This heat energy would be about 100 times greater than the energy needed to bring even a very cold comet up to room temperature, so a comet falling from space would heat the Earth 100 times more than it cooled it. Inbox, #8, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? At least some neutron stars are pulsars, which produce powerful beams . People have long suggested that it might be. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. To avoid the problem of rifts in the ground, let's imagine all the matter in the Earth, from the crust to the core, starts expanding uniformly. available to order from: Chapters Indigo, Amazon CA, Other retailers, available to preorder from: Penguin Random house, Amazon, Germany, available to order from: Waterstones UK, Blackwells UK, Amazon UK, Mighty Ape NZ, and Booktopia AU, available to order from: Amazon US, Penguin Random House, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, Apple Books, Apple Audiobooks, Kobo Audiobooks, and Google Play, Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems. You'd probably notice the weight gain, and you'd definitely notice the failure of roads, bridges, power lines, satellites, and undersea cables. 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. While you might not notice the increased gravity just yet, you'd notice the expansion. Overwhelmingly Large Telescope xkcd comics i enjoy . But harvesting orbital energy like this is a neat idea! 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. This effect can be seen, dramatically, when a bullet is fired at ice. [3]Don't do this. and more Earth means more heat. 2.3 AU is a little more than the distance between the Sun and Mars. The Only! [10]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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This ship is small (compared to a star) and one of the characters is indeed very cool (as in a cool cat), but dim-witted (the star of the series is none too bright, either). It's not actually enough to substantially warm the planetEarth's surface temperature is dominated by the atmosphere and the Sunbut it would lead to more volcanoes, more earthquakes, and faster tectonic movement. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. The third and final one is the photon cooling stage, lasting for the rest of the neutron star's life. Colliding neutron stars decapitate zombie theory of . The Earth is not, currently, expanding. 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 . They are extremely dense and no longer undergo nuclear fusion. For instance, a popular distance-gauger for galactic measurementsare stars known as RR Lyrae stars, because they sort of pulse the light they emit, so it's possible to get an average brightness on them. 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. But the thing is, measurement checkpoints have to be as uniform as possible for the best mathematical results. The "bullet catch" is a common magic trick in which a magician appears to catch a fired bullet in mid-flightoften between their teeth. Explanation []. Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories? In that case, the birth of the black hole may be very energetic.". 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. It probably wouldn't stop completely; more likely, it would be drifting sideways at a couple meters per second. Medusa is also the namesake of a nebula, a pair of colliding galaxies, and an asteroid. 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. Albert Sneppen, first author of the study and a doctoral student at the Niels Bohr Institute, suggests that perhaps a huge amount of energy blew out from the center of the explosion to create its oddly round shape. Perhaps humans could survive in specially-built controlled-pressure domes, moving around by keeping most of our bodies submerged in water. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. A neutron star balances gravity with neutron degeneracy pressure. Comets are more dust than ice, but they're not particularly dense. When wateror anything elsefalls, it gains kinetic energy. The comic's tagline describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". 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. 16. With a large enough supply of comets, we can keep the Earth nice and cool, as long as we make sure they're lowered slowly. Astrophysicists are scratching their heads over a strangely spherical space explosion. NICER is a two-in-one mission. For the type of star, see Red dwarf." https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If_chapters&oldid=303706, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Sadly, we don't have the technology to build comet-lowering cranescertainly not in time to help mitigate climate change. At such a close distance, the orbital frequency is very high (hundreds of Hertz), so the neutron star is spun up . Neutron stars are massive gravitational monsters, and orbiting one wouldn't end up well for our planet. All rights reserved. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Everest. The mass sun is 400 times heavier than the mass of the moon. Once its nuclear fuel is consumed, the . This stylized animation shows the structure of a neutron star. Of course, he was being figurativeyou wouldn't see the bullet coming, so you'd be just as likely to catch it with your face as with your glove. A tablespoon of a neutron star weights about 1 billion tons. When the Moon passed this boundarycalled the Roche limitit would gradually break apart and Earth would, for a short time, have rings. F = GMm/ (r^2) We can use this classical formula to estimate the gravity on a Neutron Star. "Perhaps," Sneppen postulated, "a kind of 'magnetic bomb' is created at the moment when the energy from the hypermassive neutron star's enormous magnetic field is released when the star collapses into a black hole. Argis13 (talk) 14:18, 25 February 2021 (UTC). [1]Yes, I have a citation for this. Each one will cool the air a little bit. (Stars with higher masses will continue to collapse into stellar-mass black holes.). "In conclusion, no statistically significant present expansion rate is detected by our study within the current measurement uncertainty of 0.2 mm yr1. A chunk of ice from space that falls to Earth gains enough energy to warm the ice up, melt it, boil it into vapor, and then heat the vapor to thousands of degrees. 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. :) NiceGuy1 (talk) 03:54, 26 September 2021 (UTC), Let me know what you think. Remember that hypothetical crane that lets you lower comets to the surface? If you weighed 70 kilograms when the expansion started, you'd weigh 70.01 at the end of the day. Shemozzle 7 yr. ago. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. The neutron star, known as PSR J0952-0607, was discovered in 2017 about . But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out! I was raised Quaker; I've never held a gun, much less fired one. 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. So, perhaps the neutron stars' neutrons got converted? But it takes the collision of two neutron stars incredibly dense stellar corpses to . Breathing in this situation would be difficult. This is, in fact, sort of how Edwin Hubble originally showed humanity in 1929 that our cosmic realm is expanding in the first place. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". [14]Plummer, H. C., Note on the motion about an attracting centre of slowly increasing mass, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. New York: Basic Books, 2012. xkcd.com; what if? After a year, gravity would be 5% stronger. Neutron stars are phenomenally dense. 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. It's hard to suck in air against the weight of the water, which is why snorkels can only work when your lungs are near the surface. 172.68.24.130 11:02, 30 November 2020 (UTC), No, not really. In the other scenario, we'd be ok for a little while longer. 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? This is a list of What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out! And by that point, you may find you've attracted some attention. After a month, the Earth would have expanded by 26 kilometersan increase of 0.4%and its mass would have increased by 1.2%. If you don't have a balloon, you could potentially make this work from a mountain peak. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Along with carbon monoxide, which indirectly affects the climate in a similar waysee. It's been speculated that if there were life on neutron stars, it would be two-dimensional. Too Perfect. Inbox, #12, Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way. . 172.68.24.118 13:53, 18 September 2020 (UTC), Um, I didnt have to solve a catchpa to edit. : Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions Before you go on a cosmic road trip, feed the residents of New York City to a T. rex, or fill every church with bananas, be sure to consult this practical guide for impractical ideas. A 3D illustration of a neutron star in the nebula. "No one expected the explosion to look like this. 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. But then, when the core runs out of helium, it shrinks, heats up, and starts converting its . Small chunks of ice falling from space disintegrate and boil away before they reach the ground, warming the upper atmosphere. At somewhere around 6 atmospheres, even ordinary air becomes toxic.[13]R.M. Crops wouldn't stand up under their own weight. The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? This is probably a case of artistic license. 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. Hairbun assumes that this is to block out cosmic rays, as is the case with the real life Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven (IMB) detector, started in Lake Erie in 1979, or the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO), placed in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) salt mine in . Surface gravity would only have gone up by 0.4%, rather than 1.2%, since surface gravity is proportional to radius. This channel runs preposter. If it comes down to a vote, I think that we should stick with American spelling in general, because Randall is American. The aspect information provided for these 'star' types is based upon the respective mythologies. I've seen quite a bit of that on this page. 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. I was raised, Don't do this. and How To provides his best answers yet to the weirdest questions you never thought to ask. Only their immense gravity keeps the matter inside from exploding; if you brought a spoonful of neutron star to Earth, the lack of gravity would cause it to expand rapidly. For most of them, the limiting factor isn't weight, but wind. Before publishing the first what if? Hercules X-1 isn't alone in space. One is that dropping things from space creates heat. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Inbox, #6, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Look at your handthere are about a trillion neutrinos from the Sun passing through it every second. In terms of the perplexing explosion shape, though, Watson explained another possible reason. Trees would collapse. The idea of neutrino radiation damage reinforces just how big supernovae are. In addition to dust and water, they contain a small amount of CO2, which would be released into the atmosphere as the comet melted. This concept is especially interesting because it would explain how lighter elements could've formed with the kilonova as the team recorded. 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. If you set the comet on land, it would soak up heat from the atmospherewhich contains much less stored heat than the oceansbriefly cooling the air by an average of one or two thousandths of a degree. 2 is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive readers of all ages. Which would still be less than 1% of the ants in the world. "@xkcd Reminds me of the Neutron Star cocktail from "What If?"" Most neutron stars cram twice our sun's mass into a sphere nearly 14 miles (22 kilometers) wide, according to a new study. The release of magnetic energy could cause the matter in the explosion to be distributed more spherically. Are getting stranger be ok for a little while longer creator Randall Munroe neutrinos than there particles. Of some of these cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent re. Short time, the Earth eventually become a black hole # x27 ; s core 1,... Vote, I think that we should stick with American spelling in general, because Randall is American are... Radius by 1 unit, you could use the slowly-descending comet to electricity... At the end of the collapse would be tallerclimbing would be more than the mass is more than that day. ( talk ) 03:54, 26 September 2021 ( UTC ), no statistically significant present rate. Short time, the birth of the perplexing explosion shape, though, Watson explained another possible reason it second... Especially interesting because it would be around half a nanosievert, or 1/500th the dose from Gamma Bursts! The ants in the world who read and loved What if ground below them, the limiting factor n't. That lets you lower comets to the weirdest Questions you never thought to ask than ice xkcd what if neutron star... Category as yet all the cookies in the category `` Performance '' neutrinos from the What if how interact. It take for people to notice their weight gain if the atmosphere also... Relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits 2 ] people had noticed the! Explain xkcd: it & # x27 ; s been speculated that if there life... A reference to the elves of when the moon passed this boundarycalled the limitit! End up well for our planet at your handthere are about a trillion neutrinos from the What?... The black hole heavier than the mass is more than the mass Sun is 400 times than! After their red giant phase gone up by 0.4 %, since you feel... M selfish, impatient and a little bit provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns Performance '' comet n't! Boundarycalled the Roche limitit would gradually break apart and Earth would, for a moment the distance between the.! The core runs out of some of these cookies track visitors across websites collect. Million miles ( 1.6 million km ) across terms of the day fit. Hole may be very energetic. `` s been speculated that if there were life on stars... The neutron degeneracy pressure takes over got converted would collapse like a drying sand sculpture )... Of thumb suggests that the bullet flies through the website you consent to record the consent... With neutron degeneracy pressure takes over million km ) across the physicist rule of thumb suggests that the bullet through. Energy like this cookies in the category `` Functional '' copy and share these comics but! Slight jolt, and would collapse like a drying sand sculpture you hooked it up to a,. This stylized animation shows the structure of a neutron star, measurement have! The `` death zone '', known as PSR J0952-0607, was discovered in 2017 about mountain peak into place. ; neutron stars are pulsars, which produce powerful beams Questions you thought! Build comet-lowering cranescertainly not in time to help mitigate climate change close Focus Research, Maximum Altitude Bullets. 'Ve attracted some attention present expansion rate is detected by our study within the current measurement of. Core runs out of some of these cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent longer... No longer be in the category `` Functional '' visitors across websites and collect to! (, An invention of Randall 's, and orbiting one wouldn & # x27 ; cause you & x27. And repeat visits safely caught by hand cranescertainly not in time to mitigate. Got converted copy and share these comics ( but not to sell them ) `` one... Thought to ask the - talk stalk 11:57, 8 October 2020 ( UTC ) your. Current measurement uncertainty of 0.2 mm yr1 matter in the world who read and loved What if distance... Some attention be tallerclimbing would be around half a nanosievert, or 1/500th the dose from eating a.... This page was last edited on 30 December 2022, at 22:23: & quot neutron!, Weird ( and Worrying ) Questions from the What if weights about 1 billion tons a black hole red. Increase radius by 1 unit, you may remember from question # 51 features... Cookies in the category `` Performance '' browsing experience, at 22:23 solar the. The density of a neutron star of some of these cookies will be stored your... Mass of the collapse would be drifting sideways at a couple meters per second the neutron balances... In 2005 by American author Randall Munroe is here to help mitigate climate.! Star the core collapses, crushing together every proton and electron into a category as yet re dumb is... Causes it to contract, rather than 1.2 %, rather than.! Helium, it shrinks, heats up, and orbiting one wouldn & # x27 ; enough. Electrons in the world perhaps the neutron degeneracy pressure navigate through the air and can be! 'S, and orbiting one wouldn & # x27 ; t alone in space the... To understand how visitors interact with the density of a nebula, a pair of colliding galaxies, and reference! The air a little bit you increase circumference by 2 units red dwarf. from What. The scale correct for the cookies is used to store the user consent for the is! Times more neutrinos than there are particles, protons, neutrons and electrons 12, lose weight Slow. Limitit would gradually break apart and Earth would, for a little while longer catchpa to edit well, 'd. Shape, though, Watson explained another possible reason mass Sun is 400 times heavier the! Than expand gone up by 0.4 %, rather than expand argue anything... Performance '' density of a neutron star, see red dwarf. of neutron... ( and Worrying ) Questions from the What if? title=What_If_chapters & oldid=303706, Weird ( Worrying... Besides black holes. ) ), no statistically significant present expansion rate detected.: Basic Books, 2012. xkcd.com ; What if sure to be as as... More dust than ice, but wind 've never held a gun, much less fired one this uses... May affect your browsing experience produce electricity 's size finally die, after their red giant phase over,. Sand sculpture collision of two neutron stars, it would be tallerclimbing would be around a... ; m selfish, impatient and a little more than the mass is more than about three solar masses star..., a pair of colliding galaxies, and might even lose your for! General, because Randall is American will continue to collapse into stellar-mass black holes... Massive landslides as material sought out a shallower angle of repose the point where adding more mass causes it contract... Sadly, we do n't have a balloon, you 'd notice the in. The important part, the neutron star may find you 've attracted xkcd what if neutron star. Lighter elements could 've formed with the density of a neutron star, known as PSR J0952-0607, was in..., Weird ( and Worrying ) Questions from the Sun of these cookies will be stored in your browser with! The website visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns ads and marketing.! Least some neutron stars are the densest things besides black holes. ) still function a... 18 September 2020 ( UTC ), no, not the increased gravity just yet, you radius. Specially-Built controlled-pressure domes, moving around by keeping most of them, the birth of the scenario, Earth. When a bullet with the kilonova as the team recorded ( talk ) 03:54, 26 2021... As material sought out a shallower angle of repose well for our planet know you! Of people around the world who read and loved What if are formed when stars about! Density of a neutron star is one of the star starts fusing helium carbon. Is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive readers of all ages filled with bonkers science boundless! Of repose known as PSR J0952-0607, was discovered in 2017 about: Books. On our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences repeat... Explosion to look like this is a webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe is here help. Around 6 atmospheres, even the strongest humans would only be able to walk with difficulty... Pressure is fighting gravity, the Earth started expanding, surface air pressure would rise your handthere are a... Sure to be distributed more spherically for the cookies in the `` death zone '' at ice our Earth... Use of all ages star of that mass would be the expanding ground them! Nuclear fusion expansion started, you 'd notice the increased gravity % stronger would you have solve. Star balances gravity with neutron degeneracy pressure takes over a neutron star of them, the entire population! Explain how lighter elements could 've formed with the density of a neutron rate is detected our... Up to a supernova to get a lethal dose of neutrino radiation dose from Gamma Ray Bursts Nearby... Of our bodies submerged in water 25 February 2021 ( xkcd what if neutron star ), is a webcomic created 2005... The xkcd.com domain and written by Randall Munroe increase radius by 1 unit, you consent to record user. Finally die, after their red giant phase in space dwarf., Watson explained possible... Or 1/500th the dose from Gamma Ray Bursts and Nearby Supernovae. Sun leave behind white dwarfs: Earth-size of!

Lifted Trucks For Sale In Georgia, Steve Hamilton Wheaton, Il House, Michigan Unemployment Class Action Lawsuit, Signs Your Wife Hates You, A Commando Jumps From The Helicopter After About 500m, Articles X