It may seem crazy to think that there are
things in the universe scarier than a Black
Hole, but a Neutron Star might just be that.
Join us as we explore why that might be!
8.
Let's Define A Black Hole
Before we get into the power and fear of Neutron
Stars, it's important to know exactly what
a Black Hole is and why they too are to be
feared.
Because while you might have a loose definition
as to what they are what they do, they're
actually far more complex than you might realize.
Which is why many people in NASA and other
space programs are fascinated by them.
If you're looking for a technical definition,
this is how NASA describes Black Holes:
"A black hole is a place in space where gravity
pulls so much that even light cannot get out.
The gravity is so strong because matter has
been squeezed into a tiny space.
This can happen when a star is dying."
This singularity as it is often called is
a bit of a mystery in space, and for a very
good reason.
You see, black holes can form in large sizes,
small sizes, and sometimes they don't even
need a fully fledged star to form at all!
Which is scary in the sense that it means
black holes can form in various ways.
Plus, since no light can actually escape them,
it means that they can't technically be seen
by anyone.
That being said, it's easy to "see their work",
as the intense gravity of the Black Holes
is enough to stretch objects from their "starting
point" and slowly pull them to the Black Hole.
This is known as spaghettification, because
like a stretched piece of spaghetti, the object
will get thinner and thinner until nothings
exists but particles.
And if you think that a Black Hole is limited
in what it can absorb, you would be wrong.
Very wrong in fact.
If it is close enough, it'll break down a
star, a planet, multiple stars and planets
at once, etc.
It's a question of range more than anything.
But there's a catch to that, as you won't
be able to observe the spaghettification yourself.
Why?
Remember, no light escapes the void that is
the Black Hole, so because of that, you'll
see the last known position of the object
that light allows you to see.
It'll seem like they're stuck in place and
slowly going away until they're gone.
When in fact, they or it will be slowly pulled
apart.
So just based on that alone you can see why
Black Holes aren't just an entity in space,
they're something to be feared by every living
thing, and NASA is trying to map them all
out in the universe as best they can so that
we don't get caught up in them at any point
in time.
So given all of that fear and power that Black
Holes give off, how the heck is a star scarier
than that?
7.
The Birth Of A Neutron Star
Believe it or not, Black Holes and Neutron
Stars do share many things in common aside
from being objects of great power and being
something to avoid when possible.
For example, the way they're created is somewhat
similar, as they both depend on the death
of stars in certain cases (Black Holes can
form many different ways for the record).
Stars may not look it, but just like planets
they thrive on a certain balance.
Mainly, the balance of the gasses that are
within them and the gravity that is exerted
on them.
The reason that stars are able to be balls
of gas in the sky is because of this balance.
The gravity of the star pushes gasses like
Hydrogen and Helium down, causing molecules
to fuse in order to emit light and energy,
which is why we feel warm because of the sun.
However, eventually, the gasses needed to
maintain the balance, in this case Hydrogen
and Helium, gets burned out.
When that balance is thrown out the window,
bad things start to happen.
Usually when the balance is disrupted the
sun will transform into a red supergiant,
where it will begin the end of its lifecycle
before it gets turned back into a new star
via a White Dwarf.
But in certain massive stars, the balance
that is lost by the gasses that are gone causes
a chain reaction.
One that causes the core of the massive star
to be compressed, and that gets a chain reaction
of elements to transform into one thing and
then another until only Iron is left.
Yeah, a star can literally turn its core into
solid Iron, and that's bad.
Because Iron has no energy to give off, and
that massive ball of iron will get crushed
by the gravity of the star itself.
Then, the electrons of the core will start
to transform into Neutrons, and via the compression
of both the core and the outer layer, a "supernova
explosion" will occur.
Where the core continues to be compressed,
but everything else in the star is jettisoned
into the wilds of space itself.
This is cool in context, especially when you
consider that the light that will be emitted
by this explosion can eclipse entirely galaxies
(which means you probably shouldn't stare
at it...you'll go blind), which shows just
how powerful the explosion is.
However, the result of all of this compression
and destruction is a Neutron Star, which is
one of the most powerful and violent things
in the entire universe.
6.
Neutron Stars
So you've seen me wax on about the "power"
of a Neutron Star, but you know doubt are
wondering why it should be feared.
I mean, I just noted that it was born via
an explosion that could blind whole galaxies,
but shouldn't that be the end of its power?
No, not even closer.
Because just in terms of its size and mass
a Neutron Star is to be feared.
Sure, when you look at it, it's MUCH smaller
than other stars.
The average size of a Neutron Star is about
25 kilometers across, which is many, many,
MANY times smaller than just the radius of
our sun.
BUT, the mass that it has within that tiny
frame is the mass of over 1 million Earths!
That's a lot of mass for not a lot of size.
It'd kind of be like if your home you're living
in had the entire mass of a planet in it.
Or for a more funny visual, imagine being
able to have a sugar cube with the mass of
Mount Everest as you put it in your cup of
coffee.
Talk about a sugar rush, am I right?
But that's still not the only thing you should
be worried about when it comes to these Neutron
Stars.
Let's talk about the gravity of them.
The ONLY thing in the universe that has stronger
gravity than Neutron Stars are Black Holes.
And that makes them even deadlier in some
ways because you can see the Neutron Star
and think that you're outside its gravity
range, but it's so much stronger than you
think that you'll get caught up in them and
think that you're caught in something else.
That's how strong they are.
Oh, and the temperature of a Neutron Sun?
Multiple times hotter than our sun, by a wide
margin in fact.
The surface of a Neutron Star can reach up
to one million degrees Celsius, while the
sun that we have in our sky reaches around
6000 degrees Celsius.
And to remind you, our sun is many times larger
than a Neutron Star, so that shows how size
does and doesn't always matter.
Before we take an even deeper look inside
these Neutron Stars, be sure to like the video
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5.
The Inside Of Neutron Stars
When you think about a star, let's just say
our own sun for an example, the last thing
you think of is that they're "solid".
Because they're not.
They may appear to be a solid ball of gas,
but that's just the amount of volume of gas
within them giving the appearance of being
solid.
The exception to this rule though is the Neutron
Star.
Because as noted in their creation, their
cores become solid iron at one point, which
isn't something that happens to most stars.
That core doesn't exactly stick around when
it transforms into a Neutron Star, but it's
doesn't exactly go away either.
A great way to look at it is that the Neutron
Star becomes its own kind of planet if you
will.
As it has definitive "layers" that it didn't
have before.
The first layer is the "atmosphere", which
is the part that we see from afar via telescopes
and such.
The second layer is the "crust", as that's
the hard shell that is the remains of the
iron transformation that happened during the
process of becoming a Neutron Star.
It was put into a crystal lattice of sorts
that is held together by electrons.
But here's the twist in the tale.
Recall that the iron was created because of
the enormous pressures of the gravity of the
star collapsing upon itself.
That gravity is still present, even moreso
now than before if you think about it as all
that mass has to be confined to the much smaller
state.
That means that when you get to the "bottom"
later of the "crust", you're going to find
something rather unexpected.
Neutron Pasta.
4.
Neutron Pasta
No, this doesn't mean you can eat a star,
are you really that hungry?
Come on, let's try and focus here.
The crust of the Neutron Star, not unlike
our own planet, has many layers in its crust,
and once you get to the bottom the gravity
is so intense that the Protons and Neutrons
that make up the star are compressed to such
a level that they're literally touching.
This doesn't happen very often in natural
life in stars and in the universe at large.
But yeah, it happens in a Neutron Star.
When it does occur, the molecules merge together
and then are stretched out.
Think of it as their own form of "spaghetification".
They're stretched and then flattened, becoming
both spaghetti and lasagna at the same time.
This is why it's called "Neutron Pasta".
Sounds tasty I'm sure, but I wouldn't bite
into it if you value your teeth.
Mainly because it's theorized that Neutron
Pasta is so compacted and so dense that it's
the hardest substance in the entire universe.
Yes, even more dense than the inside of a
black hole...and we don't even know what the
inside of a black hole is like.
For a example of how dense it is.
Sometimes a "lump of pasta" from the crust
area will only be a few centimeters high,
and yet have the density of the Himalayas...many
times over.
And that's just one lump, imagine a whole
section of it.
We're still not at the bottom of the star
though, because like our planet, there is
a core.
3.
Neutron Star Core
Arguably one of the biggest mysteries about
a Neutron Star (not unlike a Black Hole) is
what is at its core.
Mainly because while we can predict what happens
in the "crust" of the star, we can't predict
what is at the core.
Sure, we can speculate that it's something
liquid in part, mainly because that is what
would be needed to emit energy and thus allow
the star to continue to live, but outside
of that?
Yeah, we don't know.
This isn't for lack of trying, but rather,
the core of the Neutron Star would have to
have even tougher gravity than the ones at
the bottom of the crust layer.
Meaning that the "Neutron Pasta" would have
to be compressed even further, and scientists
can't speculate what would happen to the molecules
if they are compressed even further.
Some state that it may turn into various theoretical
types of "Quark Matter", even referring to
it as "Strange Quark" because they have no
earthly idea what would happen to them in
that state.
At least humanity is consistent, we really
don't know what's at the core of Earth as
well.
2.
Pulsars
There are many types of Neutron Stars out
there in the universe, but the most popular
one in terms of numbers is that of a Pulsar.
What is a Pulsar?
To put it very basically, a Pulsar is a Neutron
Star that spins rapidly.
And by rapidly I do mean many times per second.
When they do that they send out a menagerie
of radio waves, as well as various types of
radiation like Gamma Radiation.
The pulses of these Pulsars are so strong
that the magnetic field they create around
the Neutron Star are the strongest in the
universe by far.
To compare it to our own planet, it'd be about
a quadrillion times more powerful.
So yeah, that's very, very strong.
1.
Neutron Stars Can Crash Into One Another And
Create Black Holes
If you're still looking for definitive proof
that Neutron Stars are scarier than Black
Holes, then here you go.
Because while there are about 2000 Pulsars
in the Milky Way alone, there are also a bunch
of Neutron Stars that like to "mingle" with
one another.
They'll orbit around one another and eventually
crash into one another with such force they'll
create a "kilonova" explosion that sends all
sorts of particles into the universe.
This will also create the perfect conditions
for them to fuse, collapse, and then create
a black hole.
So why are Neutron Stars scarier than Black
Holes?
Because they have multiple kinds of lives,
defy physics in many ways, and even when they
die, they still create havoc by becoming Black
Holes.
And you thought Earth was scary.
Thanks for watching everyone!
What did you think of this breakdown of Neutron
Stars and why they are to be feared more than
Black Holes?
Do you still fear Black Holes more?
Do you think that there is anything in the
universe scarier than these two things?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure
to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on
the channel!
