Inside this neutron star, the strongest material in the Universe can hide
Let's play space cooks and try in three simple steps to prepare “nuclear paste”:
- Take one large dying star and boil it until it explodes as a supernova. It will take a billion years, so be patient.
- Vigorously mix the remaining protons and electrons inside the star’s compressed core until they form a soup of ultrasensitive neutrons. Engage as much gravity as needed.
- Collapse neutrons into an air-tight sphere the size of Toronto. Cover with a crystal crust and set the temperature to 600,000 ° C.
Voila! You have just created one of the most bizarre universal riddles - nuclear paste. For several years, astrophysicists have been fueling the idea that a tangle of matter resembling macaroni is hovering around neutron stars — relatively tiny, incredibly dense objects born after the death of massive solar stars. Nuclear paste is interesting because it can be the most powerful substance in space.
In a new study, American and Canadian scientists conducted a series of computer simulations to believe the power of nuclear paste based on what is known about the conditions of a neutron star. The team decided that it would take 10 billion times more force to destroy a plate of nuclear paste than to destroy steel. Most of the power of nuclear paste is created, probably because of its density. It is believed that these formations exist only inside neutron stars that appear as large solar stars break down (8 times more massive than the Sun) under the weight of their own gravity. As a result, neutron stars pack the entire massiveness into a compact 20-kilometer core. Just imagine that you are trying to shove 1.3 million lands into an American city.
In order to exist in such extreme conditions, everything in a neutron star becomes much harder than in any other part of the Universe. The analysis shows that the material pressed into a sugar cube will exceed the massiveness of Everest in a neutron star. New research indicates that nuclear paste can be so strong and dense that it is capable of forming small mountains that will create ripples in space-time and even gravitational waves in a neutron star.
