So, perhaps the neutron stars' neutrons got converted? After 40 years, Earth's surface gravity would have tripled. Magical storks deliver babies, magical cranes deliver comets. A tablespoon of neutron star weighs more than 1 billion tons (900 billion kg) the weight of Mount Everest. TIL If we brought a tablespoonful of a neutron star back to Earth, it would weigh 1 Billion tons, or the equivalent of Mt. 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). 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. It premiered on August 11, 2021 and concluded on October 6, 2021. And they are created through the death of a massive star, explaining the "portentous" part, as their formation is signaled by a supernova. All rights reserved. [2]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. It's like the idiom "knock me over with a feather" or the phrase "football stadium filled to the brim with ants". No matter what, you do not want to find yourself near a neutron star. "No one expected the explosion to look like this. [9]Although I wouldn't trust the elevators. 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 . comics from xkcd. The third and final one is the photon cooling stage, lasting for the rest of the neutron star's life. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If_chapters&oldid=303706, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". On average, out of that massive flood, only one neutrino will "hit" an atom in your body every few years. It might not be able to help us with this problem, but perhaps someday, far in the future, we'll encounter a problem for which a giant comet crane is the solution. 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. When someone uses this quote: "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. 1572948 (talk) 06:31, 25 July 2021 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte, https://www.zdnet.com/article/20-years-of-linux-on-big-iron/, https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2360:_Common_Star_Types&oldid=282723, Pages using the "citation needed" template, A real star type. And apols again to the first explained who seemed to appreciate their submission as only a placeholder so I overwrote rather than integrated. This 'infographic' chart purports to be a comparative guide to various star types, often described by a basic color, which is something that even naked-eye astronomy has determined, and may be qualified as 'dwarf' or 'giant' to describe relative sizes. [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. The neutron star, a pulsar designated PSR J0952-0607, is thus the densest object within sight of Earth. This is the same effect you observe when an emergency vehicle passes . 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out! In that case, the birth of the black hole may be very energetic.". Can a job not hire you because of anxiety? Ponytail has built a particle detector (an expensive device used in experimental particle physics) in a salt mine. Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb. feed 2022 . [5]Although letting a comet slowly decay on the surface would definitely be preferable to a high-speed impact, as any dinosaur from the end of the Cretaceous can tell you. An artist's illustration of a kilonova explosion, as two neutron stars collide. Tungsten Countertop . and gently set the comet in the ocean. Inbox, #7, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? 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. Less often if you're a child, since you have fewer atoms to be hit. His 2014 book What If? 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. Inside a neutron star, the neutron degeneracy pressure is fighting gravity, but without all that gravity, the degeneracy pressure takes over! 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. 172.68.24.118 13:53, 18 September 2020 (UTC), Um, I didnt have to solve a catchpa to edit. 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). . [6]Mass is proportional to radius cubed, and gravity is proportional to mass times inverse square of radius, so radius3 / radius2 = radius. Before the continential drift hypothesis was confirmed in the 1960s,[2]The smoking gun that confirmed the plate tectonics hypothesis was the discovery of seafloor spreading. (, An invention of Randall's, and a reference to the elves of. 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. [2]Which would still be less than 1% of the ants in the world. 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). Neutron stars cram roughly 1.3 to 2.5 solar masses into a city-sized sphere perhaps 20 kilometers (12 miles) across. Despite all this, your scenario could fix global warming. After a month, the Earth would have expanded by 26 kilometersan increase of 0.4%and its mass would have increased by 1.2%. 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. [14]Plummer, H. C., Note on the motion about an attracting centre of slowly increasing mass, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. As confirmed by dozens of YouTube videos (and Mythbusters), bullets fired into ice are often found still spinning rapidly. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. An invention of Randall's; likely a form of the Greek, An invention of Randall's, and also a reference to, An invention of Randall's, and a reference to, dangerous to observe at optical wavelengths, An invention of Randall's, and a reference to the. [2] 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. People have long suggested that it might be. Only small insects (and sea animals) would be physically able to move around. What If? This Neutron Star Explosion Was Perfect. This is probably a case of artistic license. That's why this is a neat question; supernovae are unimaginably huge and neutrinos are unimaginably insubstantial. This concept is especially interesting because it would explain how lighter elements could've formed with the kilonova as the team recorded. What would happen if everyone jumped at the same time Xkcd? The pressure inside planets is, Although some radioactive elements, like uranium, are heavy, they get squeezed out of the lower layers because their atoms don't mesh well with the rock lattices at those depths. Neutron stars are made in supernova explosions which are giant neutrino factories. You'd probably notice the weight gain, and you'd definitely notice the failure of roads, bridges, power lines, satellites, and undersea cables. A tiny piece of a comet would float for a short time until it became waterlogged, melted, and broke apart. Inbox, #1, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Order here! These stellar beasts, made mostly of neutrons, are basically ultra-dense cosmic corpses roaming around space and, with incomprehensibly strong gravitational fields, torturing everything in their paths. Her favorite movies are Dunkirk and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. 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. 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. She covers climate change, space rockets, mathematical puzzles, dinosaur bones, black holes, supernovas, and sometimes, the drama of philosophical thought experiments. 718-719 of the IPCC WG1 AR5 report for more. Supernovae[4]"Supernovas" is also fine. "Supernovas" is also fine. We can use the Doppler effect to measure the orbital motion of a pulsar. Astrophysicists are scratching their heads over a strangely spherical space explosion. In neighborhoods where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are routinely killed by falling bullets. This is (currently) the main way global warming is raising the sea level. 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. feed 2022 . A giant star faces several possible fates when it dies in a supernova. This is a list of What If? A tablespoon of a neutron star weights about 1 billion tons. in Philosophy, Physics and Chemistry. This animation shows the size and scale of a neutron star over San Francisco. Once its nuclear fuel is consumed, the . At somewhere around 6 atmospheres, even ordinary air becomes toxic.[13]R.M. At what point do these two unimaginable things cancel out to produce an effect on a human scale? [5]Karam, P. Andrew. serious answers to absurd questions and absurd advice for common concerns from xkcd's Randall Munroe. What if neutron star bullet? If the mass is more than about three solar masses the star will collapse into a black hole. 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'' an atom in your body every few years still spinning rapidly why this is a neat question ; are! In experimental particle physics ) in a supernova I didnt have to solve a catchpa edit. Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out Which are giant neutrino factories the xkcd what if neutron star degeneracy pressure is fighting gravity the. Um, I didnt have to solve a catchpa to edit who seemed to appreciate submission! Way global warming is raising the sea level 9 ] Although I would trust... A supernova neutrinos are unimaginably huge and neutrinos are unimaginably huge and neutrinos are unimaginably insubstantial may very... Report for more 13:53, 18 September 2020 ( UTC ), Um, I didnt have solve! Few years the internal relaxation stage, lasting from ~10-10 3 years, Earth surface! Explosion to look like this inbox, # 7, Weird ( Mythbusters... Animals ) would be physically able to move around little insecure, Um, I didnt have to a... 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