Neutron Star Fragment

If a bit of neutron star material (say, 1 inch in diameter) were
to enter Earth's atmosphere, would it lose the same percentage
of its mass that other metallic meteorites do?

Rick

No. Otoh, absent of gravity, such fragment will explode long before getting
here.
And even if possible, such dense object will cause nuclear explosions while
going through earth. My guess would be that it will be several thoughsand
nuclear bombs exploding continuously.

"Rick" wrote in message
...
If a bit of neutron star material (say, 1 inch in diameter) were
to enter Earth's atmosphere, would it lose the same percentage
of its mass that other metallic meteorites do?

Rick

Could you explain the "absent of gravity" comment? Would a
1-inch chuck of neutron star material not have gravity? Or are
you saying such a small piece couldn't exist at all?

"onegod" wrote in message ...
No. Otoh, absent of gravity, such fragment will explode long before getting
here.
And even if possible, such dense object will cause nuclear explosions while
going through earth. My guess would be that it will be several thoughsand
nuclear bombs exploding continuously.

"Rick" wrote in message
...
If a bit of neutron star material (say, 1 inch in diameter) were
to enter Earth's atmosphere, would it lose the same percentage
of its mass that other metallic meteorites do?

Rick

It would have a mass of "only" 15 x 10^15 grams (15 billion tonnes)
which probably isn't large enough to hold it together, even though its
surface gravity would be much higher than the same mass of normal
matter. I _think_ it would disperse into free neutrons which would then
decay.
Which raises the interesting question of whether asteroid-mass chunks
could be thrown out of a supernova explosion and be stable. A mass the
same as Pallas (2.3 x 10^23 grams - it's the first one I could find)
would only be about 6 meters across, if I've done my sums right. Of
course the chance of it actually hitting anything is infinitesimal.

In message , Rick
writes
Could you explain the "absent of gravity" comment? Would a
1-inch chuck of neutron star material not have gravity? Or are
you saying such a small piece couldn't exist at all?

"onegod" wrote in message
.. .
No. Otoh, absent of gravity, such fragment will explode long before getting
here.
And even if possible, such dense object will cause nuclear explosions while
going through earth. My guess would be that it will be several thoughsand
nuclear bombs exploding continuously.

"Rick" wrote in message
...
If a bit of neutron star material (say, 1 inch in diameter) were
to enter Earth's atmosphere, would it lose the same percentage
of its mass that other metallic meteorites do?

Rick







--
Rabbit arithmetic - 1 plus 1 equals 10
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