Neutron stars are one of the most dense objects in the universe, and definitely one of the most dangerous. But there are not many people who know much about them.Today we will be talking about The shape and properties of a neutron star, how a neutron star is made, and why neutron stars are so dangerous. I hope that this article will blow your mind with the stunning properties of a neutron star.
Neutron stars are very smooth with top hights from the surface up to 1 inch! They are very compact and because of that. Just one tablespoon of neutron star material would weigh one billion tons! Which is more than Mt. Everest! Neutron stars are also very small, about ten miles in diameter. They have magnetic fields which are one trillion times as powerful as earth! They also have large gravitational fields too. There are different kinds of neutron stars too. There are pulsars, which are the most common, pulsars are spinning neutron stars which have been observed to have pulses of radiation which range from seconds to milliseconds. The other kind of neutron star is called a magnetar, while a regular neutron star has one trillion times the gravity on earth, a magnetar has one thousand times that! Making it very powerful
The first thing you need to know before you learn about how a neutron star is formed is that during a star's life there is constant battle between two contradicting forces. The star’s own gravity which is trying to make the star collapse in upon itself, and the star’s internal outward pressure caused by the nuclear fusion that is going on within. When the star goes into supernova and explodes the gravity side of the war begins to claim victory, and what’s left of the star begins to collapse in on itself and depending on how big the star was, it becomes a white dwarf, neutron star, or a black hole. Because all of the atoms are tightly compressed, the electrons get so close to the nucleus that they start combining with protons and become neutrons hence the name: neutron star
So why are neutron stars dangerous? For one thing the magnetic field and gravity can pull objects in very fast, which could be very dangerous to satellites and rocket ships in the future. Second, in all neutron stars the surface of the star has a very powerful connection with the magnetic field so that any small change in one causes a change in the other, the surface is constantly under a strain so the slightest movement in the surface can be explosive! But because the surface of a neutron star and it’s magnetic field are connected, that explosion ripples through the magnetic field releasing tons of energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. Once in a magnetar called SGR 1806-20 had a burst where in one tenth of a second it released so much energy that it would take the sun to make in one hundred thousand years!
I hope that you learned a lot of interesting things from this article. Today we talked about The shape and properties of a neutron star, how a neutron star is made, and why neutron stars are dangerous. Neutron stars are very interesting objects, they are extremely heavy and compact, and they are very powerful. In the far future people will have to be wary of them, but for now we can look at these amazing wondrous objects from the safety of our planet.