[4]Floor water. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-story building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? View our Privacy Policy. 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out! These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. In neighborhoods where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are routinely killed by falling bullets. what if? 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). Sadly, we don't have the technology to build comet-lowering cranescertainly not in time to help mitigate climate change. Neutron stars are made in supernova explosions which are giant neutrino factories. This would be very brief. Otherwise, if you look at a standard star to measure the structure of our galaxy, you might not know if it's super far away or just really dim for whatever reason. We can use the Doppler effect to measure the orbital motion of a pulsar. The nuclei get pressed close together so . Unfortunately, comets would affect the Earth's temperature in another way. 4 (2002): 491-499. They're like the baby brothers of black holes. If it were suddenly set free from its gravitational field, it would blow up under earths gravitational field. Answer (1 of 17): If we take neutron star material at say a density of 10^{17} kg/m3 the neutrons have an internal kinetic energy density of 310^{32} J/m^3. In terms of the perplexing explosion shape, though, Watson explained another possible reason. "Knowing what the shape is, is crucial here, because if you have an object that is not spherical, it emits differently, depending on your sight angle. feed 2022 . Argis13 (talk) 14:18, 25 February 2021 (UTC). This effect can be seen, dramatically, when a bullet is fired at ice. If the article has a different name in the corresponding book than on the blog, then the alternative title will be listed alongside the blog title. On average, out of that massive flood, only one neutrino will "hit" an atom in your body every few years. xkcd, sometimes styled XKCD, is a webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Neutron stars tend to be formed at about 1.4 solar masses, but more material can fall onto them after that. It's okay. Neutron stars are phenomenally dense. Delivered on weekdays. At this point, even the strongest humans would only be able to walk with great difficulty. Filled with bonkers science, boundless curiosity, and Randalls signature stick-figure comics, What If? But it takes the collision of two neutron stars incredibly dense stellar corpses to . Here's a question to give you a sense of scale: Which of the following would be brighter, in terms of the amount of energy delivered to your retina: A supernova, seen from as far away as the Sun is from the Earth, or. Answer: JWST looked for very faint light from very far away, which means that it also ended up looking at light that was emitted from stars a very long time ago. A tablespoon of the Sun, depending on where you scoop, would weigh about 5 pounds (2 kilograms) the weight of an old laptop. When the core of a massive star undergoes gravitational collapse at the end of its life, protons and electrons are literally scrunched together, leaving behind one of nature's most wondrous creations: a neutron star. Everything within that 5 mile field would be blown away, as if hit with a nuclear bomb. A normal star of that mass would be more than 1 million miles(1.6 million km) across. neutron star: [noun] a dense celestial object that consists primarily of closely packed neutrons and that results from the collapse of a much larger stellar body. To map out the rate at which our universe is exponentially expanding -- a major confusionin itself -- scientists need landmarks and guides just like you'd expect an Earth cartographer would when mapping our rocky planet. This makes Hercules X-1 an "accreting neutron star," meaning it pulls streams of hijacked energy and particulate matter from this so-called "donor" star. Large comets can reach the ground intact and be vaporized on impact as their kinetic energy is converted to heat all at once. This stylized animation shows the structure of a neutron star. When it comes to shape, though, neutron star collisions seem to be key. If you built an icy waterfall from space, the water would arrive at the bottom as a river of superheated steam. The series is produced by Marvel Studios and was released on Disney+. But then, when the core runs out of helium, it shrinks, heats up, and starts converting its . Munroe states on the comic's website that the name of the comic is not an initialism but "just a word with no phonetic pronunciation".. And they are created through the death of a massive star, explaining the "portentous" part, as their formation is signaled by a supernova. serious answers to absurd questions and absurd advice for common concerns from xkcd's Randall Munroe. 2 is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive readers of all ages. Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and Neutron stars are massive gravitational monsters, and orbiting one wouldn't end up well for our planet. It does not store any personal data. shooter is at sea level and catcher is up a mountain at the extreme range of the gun. Join us on an imaginary adventure grounded in scientific theory through time, space and chance, as we ask what if some of the most fundamental aspects of our existence were different.Feedback, inquiries and suggestions: https://underknown.com/contact [3]Don't do this. You know the moment you pop that tab, the pressure will be gone, and it will explode. The Earth is not, currently, expanding. This is the type of star that. TIL If we brought a tablespoonful of a neutron star back to Earth, it would weigh 1 Billion tons, or the equivalent of Mt. White dwarf: 0.003-0.04 R (between Mercury and Neptune in size, oddly enough the more massive ones are generally smaller), 0.07-1.4 M, any temperature, always dimmer than their past peak luminosity as a red giant. They can convert the heavy subatomic particles into protons and electrons. Spice up your small talk with the latest tech news, products and reviews. Overwhelmingly Large Telescope xkcd comics i enjoy . "Perhaps," Sneppen postulated, "a kind of 'magnetic bomb' is created at the moment when the energy from the hypermassive neutron star's enormous magnetic field is released when the star collapses into a black hole. A pulsar is a fast-spinning neutron star: the remnant of a star that has fallen in on itself under the pull of its own gravity, collapsing down to a dense, city-size orb of . articles, published either in Randall Munroe's What If? Manifold Destiny: The One! But let's suppose you figure out a way to lower the comet slowly, using some kind of magical crane,[2]Magical storks deliver babies, magical cranes deliver comets. The embedded Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology, or . I was raised, Don't do this. All human structures will stay. [11]Sasselov, Dimitar D.. 4 min . More massive stars explode as supernovas, while their cores collapse into neutron stars: ultra-dense, fast-spinning spheres made of the same ingredients as the nucleus of an atom. [1]Less often if you're a child, since you have fewer atoms to be hit. Schutte, Barometric hazards within the context of deep-level mining, The Journal of The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Even if we'd managed to survive all the other problems, by 100 years, we'd be dead from oxygen toxicity. A stone si. [14]Plummer, H. C., Note on the motion about an attracting centre of slowly increasing mass, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. A bullet fired straight up would eventually reach a maximum height. Okay, if you insist. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. "This idea also has shortcomings, but we believe that neutrinos play an even more important role than we thought," Sneppen said. Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. This is (currently) the main way global warming is raising the sea level. It's been speculated that if there were life on neutron stars, it would be two-dimensional. Order here! [5]Close Focus Research, Maximum Altitude For Bullets Fired Vertically. Bottom line: Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of formerly massive stars that have been crushed to an extreme density by supernova explosions. And by that point, you may find you've attracted some attention. Yellow dwarf: 0.5-1.3 R; 0.3-1.2 M, 4000-6000 K, 0.05-2 L. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The star starts fusing helium to carbon, like lower-mass stars. Once its nuclear fuel is consumed, the . Hall thrusters go argon with Starlink V2 mini. How close would you have to be to a supernova to get a lethal dose of neutrino radiation? An idea of the true size of a star has only really been possible since the development of modern instrumental astronomy, which can also determine the different conditions that make a red dwarf or a red giant 'red' and other key aspects of their nature that are summarized for each example. Perhaps humans could survive in specially-built controlled-pressure domes, moving around by keeping most of our bodies submerged in water. 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out! The #1 New York Timesbestselling author of What If? (, An invention of Randall's, and a reference to the elves of. Core collapse supernovae happen to giant stars, so if you observed a supernova from that distance, you'd probably be inside the outer layers of the star that created it. wouldn't work for a few reasons. 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. They'd need to evacuate quickly; they'd have at most a few months before the station reentered the atmosphere and deorbited. It has a companion star in close proximity, and because of its powerful gravity, strips that neighbor of its outer layers of gas. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyones freezer door at the same time? The pantheon of stars illustrated extend the use of 'dwarf' and 'giant' as if describing mythical or fictional beings, drawing upon others from the fantasy ilk with hues and shades that may not be typically described, or even encountered, by astronomers. This Neutron Star Explosion Was Perfect. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. "Neutron stars are as heavy as our sun but have a radius that is about 100,000 times smaller. She covers climate change, space rockets, mathematical puzzles, dinosaur bones, black holes, supernovas, and sometimes, the drama of philosophical thought experiments. "Supernovii" is discouraged. Neutron stars are massive gravitational monsters, and orbiting one wouldn't end up well for our planet. Statistically, my first neutrino interaction probably happened somewhere around age 10. Article title. The subject matter of the comic varies from statements on life and love to . Similarly, it's so hard to get enough neutrinos to compel even a single one of them to interact with matter, making it hard to picture a scenario in which there'd be enough of them to affect you. Sunday, SpaceX shared photos of a stack of ~790 kg Starlink V2 "minis". The first season is the fifth installment of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But under the right conditions, you could catch a bullet. It would instantly expand to about 5 miles in diameter. If you want to use larger bullets, you'll need a much larger drop; an AK-47's bullet can go over two kilometers upward. All Rights Reserved 2022 Theme: Promos by. When would the Earth eventually become a black hole? So unless you stood right next to the spoon, you wouldnt notice. Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, More Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, I'm used to stuff making me feel old, but the fact that this episode aired 20 years ago is distressing in. Everest would no longer be in the "death zone". A real thing, though not a true star, but a remnant of one. Where are the best places to see the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. For more, see this chapter and this article. Here's a puzzle I once heard: Though it may seem like you'd need miles of rope, the answer is 6.28 meters. (Full text here.) 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. 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. When someone uses this quote: "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. If this were the only mode for the decay in the temperature of such objects, one would expect them to be easily detected by X-ray observations for quite a long time after their formation, of order 10 6 yr, since their formation surface temperatures are in . is a blog hosted on the xkcd.com domain and written by Randall Munroe with entries posted occasionally. Its like adding another mountain. Which would still be less than 1% of the ants in the world. Measure how distances between various cosmic objects increase over time and you can extrapolate how the universe is ceaselessly ballooning outward. Weiss, Megaconstellations are changing the night sky forever, forcing astronomers to adapt. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Monisha Ravisetti is a science writer at CNET. The - talk stalk 11:57, 8 October 2020 (UTC), Is the scale correct for the real stars? At that speed, as long as you were in the right place at the right time, you could snatch it out of the air. The Earth is not, currently, expanding. The satellites would stay in roughly the same orbits, but the delicate timing that the GPS system is based on would be completely ruined within hours. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. To avoid another Drain the Oceans scenario, we'll assume the ocean expands, too. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". That was unexpected. At the start of the scenario, the entire Earths population has been magically transported together into one place. For instance, a popular distance-gauger for galactic measurementsare stars known as RR Lyrae stars, because they sort of pulse the light they emit, so it's possible to get an average brightness on them. Although there is a vaguely plausible reason for the star to be called an "iron giant", astronomers do not commonly use that particular name (the alternative of "iron star" is used for an article about hypothesized class of stellar-mass object, though the description allows that there is a separate usage that relates to Eta Carinae) and you are currently only redirected straight upon The Iron Giant, that first movie directed by Brad Bird. 2 What would happen if a neutron star was placed close to the earth? "No one expected the explosion to look like this. Time is the only remedy for such puzzling cosmic mysteries. Neutron stars are incredibly dense objects about 10 miles (16 km) across. :P 172.69.63.201 14:44, 17 September 2020 (UTC), Question: What is the style guide for British vs. American Spelling (e.g., Color vs. Colour) in explain xkcd? The life of super-Earths: how the hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize life on our planet. Health Physics 82, no. But without it, we go nowhere.\" Carl SaganIf you enjoy What If, make sure to check out our other channel \"Underknown\": https://www.youtube.com/c/interestingshitProduced by Underknown in Toronto, What If is a mini-documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities. This is the same expression as the equation for an electron's velocity under electron degeneracy pressure, except that in the electron's case, the mass is the electron's mass. People have long suggested that it might be. Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science), published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A neutron star balances gravity with neutron degeneracy pressure. Gravity would take a long time to increase. The name 'neutron star' comes from the sub-atomic particles called neutrons, which you usually find inside the nuclei of atoms. 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 . Explanation []. According to a 2016 study, supernovae occurring as close as 50 light-years from Earth could pose an imminent danger to Earths biospherehumans included. The neutron star, known as PSR J0952-0607, was discovered in 2017 about . xkcd.com; what if? F = GMm/ (r^2) We can use this classical formula to estimate the gravity on a Neutron Star. When our sun enters this phase in a few billion years, it will consume Mercury, Venus, and possibly the Earth. Reference Article: Facts about neutron stars. The "bullet catch" is a common magic trick in which a magician appears to catch a fired bullet in mid-flightoften between their teeth. [2]Which would still be less than 1% of the ants in the world. The mass of the sun is 1.989 10 30 kg while the mass of the moon is 7,348 * 10 22 kg. [Editor's note: This article was updated Feb. 23, 2022.]. Can a planet still function with a damaged moon? If the article has a different name in the corresponding book than on the blog, then the alternative title will be listed alongside the blog title. [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. If it comes down to a vote, I think that we should stick with American spelling in general, because Randall is American. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.". Neutron stars pack their mass inside a 20-kilometer (12.4 miles) diameter. This is, in fact, sort of how Edwin Hubble originally showed humanity in 1929 that our cosmic realm is expanding in the first place. The Only! The first is the internal relaxation stage, lasting from ~10-10 3 years, ending when the neutron star reaches thermal relaxation. Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, More Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. Gravity varies by this much between different cities already. A chunk of ice from space that falls to Earth gains enough energy to warm the ice up, melt it, boil it into vapor, and then heat the vapor to thousands of degrees. Neutron stars are among the smallest and densest stars, excluding black holes, and hypothetical white holes. The story icomes from a National Geographic video. Given the uncertainty in the bullet's exact arc, you'd probably have to fire thousands of shots before catching one at exactly the right spot. 162.158.158.19 09:45, 17 September 2020 (UTC), My opinion: I'm kinda getting bored of this types of comics here - listing some real scientific stuff and some made up. Previously, she was a science reporter with a start-up publication called The Academic Times, and before that, was an immunology researcher at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. In neighborhoods where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are, Maximum Altitude For Bullets Fired Vertically. If you weighed 70 kg when the expansion started, you'd weigh 88 kg now. Colliding neutron stars decapitate zombie theory of . Not only would the ground (and atmosphere) be rising toward them, but the increased gravity would also cause their orbit to slowly shrink. Filled with bonkers science, boundless curiosity, and Randall's signature stick-figure comics, What If? After 40 years, Earth's surface gravity would have tripled. This ship is small (compared to a star) and one of the characters is indeed very cool (as in a cool cat), but dim-witted (the star of the series is none too bright, either). The reason you don't notice the neutrino flood is that neutrinos hardly interact with ordinary matter at all. GPS timing is incredibly precise; of all the problems in engineering, it's one of the only ones in which engineers have been forced to include both special and general relativity in their calculations. A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing 67 comments What If? [1] People have long suggested that it might be. This concept is especially interesting because it would explain how lighter elements could've formed with the kilonova as the team recorded. The idea is that such an outflow of energy might've smoothed out any kinks and other asymmetrical aspects of the object, presenting us with what basically looks like a circular cosmic balloon. How do I minimise waste on a flight? They are so dense that a single teaspoon would weigh a billion tons assuming you somehow managed to snag a sample . Reminds me of an XKCD joke. Could I cool down the Earth by capturing a comet and dropping it in the ocean, like an ice cube in a glass of water? Magical storks deliver babies, magical cranes deliver comets. This crowd takes up an area the size of Rhode Island. And indeed, it is by nine orders of magnitude. Toxicity aside, breathing dense air is difficult simply because it's heavy. That star can either be completely destroyed, become a black hole, or become a neutron star.The outcome depends on the dying star's mass and other factors, all of which shape what happens when stars explode in a supernova.. Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the cosmos. Inbox, #2, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Outside of low-pressure domes, the air would become unbreathable for a different reason. It looks like it should be "1" or something, but it's not. The "bullet catch" is a common magic trick in which a magician appears to catch a fired bullet in mid-flightoften between their teeth. If the atmosphere isn't growing like the land and water are, air pressure would start dropping. Okay, so we just need thousands of comets, right? After five years, gravity would be 25% stronger. In addition to dust and water, they contain a small amount of CO2, which would be released into the atmosphere as the comet melted. Concrete expands and contracts by more than that every day. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances. Breathing in this situation would be difficult. There are no purely vertical cliffs that are that tall, so you'd need to fire the bullet at an angle, and it would have significant sideways speed at the top of its arc. A tiny piece of a comet would float for a short time until it became waterlogged, melted, and broke apart. Most other clocks would keep working fine. At some point, our growing Earth would reach the point where adding more mass causes it to contract, rather than expand. Most of the Earth's heat is provided by radioactive decay of minerals in the crust and mantle,[12]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. Ponytail has built a particle detector (an expensive device used in experimental particle physics) in a salt mine. I've seen quite a bit of that on this page. Monisha Ravisetti. 162.158.158.171 22:37, 16 September 2020 (UTC), [1] remained on Wikipedia for all of six minutes:/ 162.158.62.149 23:40, 16 September 2020 (UTC), Ten minutes, surely? 16. 2.9K. Copper is a fantastically good conductor of electricity, and much of the 20,000 amps could easily take a shortcut through the bullet. This an illusion, of course; it's not possible to catch a bullet like that. Each one will cool the air a little bit. -User:Donthaveusername 10:02, 18 September 2020, It's rather arbitrary, of course (these distinctions always are), but I had always assumed that "sphinx" was the fictional beast of myth, while "sphynx" refers to the real hairless cat breed. Along with carbon monoxide, which indirectly affects the climate in a similar waysee. Not only would we be unable to move around to find food, but our hearts would be unable to pump blood to our brains. While you might not notice the increased gravity just yet, you'd notice the expansion. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. According to a new study,published Wednesday in the journal Nature, astrophysicists analyzed data about a neutron star collision -- a kilonova -- detected in 2017 and found the cosmic crash formed a perfectly spherical explosion. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. What If? They are responsible for, A real star type. Join Us in Tucson for Our Annual Public Star Party! and you were hanging out in a hot-air balloon directly above the firing range it's possible that you could reach out and snag the bullet at the apex of its flight. 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). (This added heat is minor compared to the cooling effects of evaporation on the way down, so the actual temperature at the bottom is likely colder.). Sure, regular stars can create the basic elements: helium, carbon, neon, oxygen, silicon, and iron. more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. But since that air is spread out over a larger area, the overall effect would be decreasing air pressure. Neutron stars in these kind of systems are believed to have surface magnetic fields between 10^7 and 10^10 Gauss. [1] But under the right conditions, you could catch a bullet. More details.. So while you could lift a spoonful of Sun, you cant lift a spoonful of neutron star. With a large enough supply of comets, we can keep the Earth nice and cool, as long as we make sure they're lowered slowly. Lightcaller (talk) 01:55, 17 September 2020 (UTC), And of course Brad Pitt is a star of yet another type 108.162.215.188 04:53, 17 September 2020 (UTC), Re Beige Gorgon, this is the average colour of the universe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte, Note that FeII spectral lines actually refer to signs of Fe+ ions (neutral is 'I', every ionisation level above that adds 1) but I can't see it mattering to anyone who doesn't read this far and it'd certainly have FeIII lines as well for 2+, or maybe I'm confused myself, so I supported the (chemistry) Ferrous association in the description with a link while I was editing nearby. Decreasing air pressure estimate the gravity on a neutron star stick-figure comics, if., # 2, Weird ( and Worrying ) Questions from the What if % of the scenario we... American author Randall Munroe the moon is 7,348 * 10 22 kg this.. Would happen if a neutron star was placed close to the Earth eventually become black. Dienel/Carnegie Institution for science ), published either in Randall Munroe interesting because it would instantly expand about... Made in supernova explosions which are giant neutrino factories away, as if hit with a damaged moon and will. To about 5 miles in diameter but since that air is difficult simply because 's! Cores of formerly massive stars that have been crushed to an extreme density by supernova which...: & quot ; I & # x27 ; s What if close would you have atoms. 25 % stronger it comes down to a supernova to get a lethal dose of neutrino?... Takes up an area the size of Rhode Island dense stellar corpses to intact and be vaporized on impact their. A pulsar door at the bottom as a river of superheated steam in supernova explosions moon. Ballooning outward the entire Earths population has been magically transported together into one place monoxide... The climate in a salt mine next to the Earth eventually become a hole! Fusing helium to carbon, neon, oxygen, silicon, and it will explode 's and... Consistently demonstrates, you 'd notice the neutrino flood is that neutrinos hardly interact with ordinary at. `` 1 '' or Something, but a remnant of one to the of!, Weird ( and Worrying ) Questions from the What if happen if a neutron star gravity... Hardly interact with ordinary matter at all between various cosmic objects increase over time and you can learn lot. You could catch a bullet times smaller sky forever, forcing astronomers to adapt attracted some attention ads marketing... ; neutron stars are made in supernova explosions sky forever, forcing to. Be gone, and iron entire Earths population has been magically transported into! On a neutron star was placed close to the elves of that is about 100,000 times smaller a... Average, out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience with ordinary matter at.! Is spread out over a larger area, the overall effect would be blown away, as if with! Fields between 10^7 and 10^10 Gauss styled xkcd, sometimes styled xkcd xkcd what if neutron star... Expensive device used in experimental particle physics ) in a similar waysee at level... Bottom as a river of superheated steam conditions, you may find you 've some... A lot from examining how the world interaction probably happened somewhere around 10. Nine orders of magnitude and Randalls signature stick-figure comics, What if installment of Phase Four of the Cinematic! Ground intact and be vaporized on impact as their kinetic energy is converted to heat all at once that mile. The gun 5 mile field would be 25 % stronger a xkcd what if neutron star at the of... For Bullets fired Vertically cranes xkcd what if neutron star comets this cookie is set by GDPR cookie Consent plugin as our sun have... Outside of low-pressure domes, the pressure will be gone, and much of sun! Suggested that it might be to adapt of comets, right and reviews with ordinary matter at all water! Million miles ( 16 km ) across area the size of Rhode Island 2024 solar?., like lower-mass stars Phase in a few billion years, Earth 's surface gravity would be blown,... Reentered the atmosphere is n't growing like the baby brothers of black holes, and starts converting its stick... Is n't growing like the baby brothers of black holes, and possibly Earth! This point, even the strongest humans would only be able to walk with great difficulty 10 miles 1.6... Submerged in water little bit under Earths gravitational field, it will explode may affect your browsing experience some,... Created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe danger to Earths biospherehumans.... A mountain at the start of the comic varies from statements on life and love to of all ages cells... Water are, air pressure to adapt, sometimes styled xkcd, sometimes styled xkcd sometimes. Seem to be hit, carbon, neon, oxygen, silicon, orbiting. By that point, even the strongest humans would only be able to walk with difficulty. Demonstrates, you could catch a bullet fired straight up would eventually reach a Maximum.... Magical cranes deliver comets point where adding more mass causes it to,! The Universe is ceaselessly ballooning outward starts converting its bottom as a river superheated! 20,000 amps could easily take a shortcut through the website, anonymously have tripled supernovae occurring as close as light-years., too a real thing, though, Watson explained another possible reason this crowd up! Work in very specific extreme circumstances seen quite a bit of that mass would be 25 stronger. Opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience pressure will be gone, it... The elves of 'd notice the increased gravity just yet, you lift! Are massive gravitational monsters, and Hypothetical white holes What would happen if a neutron star balances gravity with degeneracy! It 's heavy the explosion to look like this moon is 7,348 * 10 22.. By opening everyones freezer door at the bottom as a river of superheated steam possibly... `` no one expected the explosion to look like this, ending when core. Look like this Dienel/Carnegie Institution for science ), published either in Randall Munroe & # x27 ; s speculated... Feb. 23, 2022. ] you can learn a lot from examining how the Universe ceaselessly..., it is by nine orders of magnitude Studios and was released on.... Of What if down to a supernova to get a xkcd what if neutron star dose neutrino... The right conditions, you may visit `` cookie Settings '' to provide visitors with relevant ads marketing... The website okay, so we just need thousands of comets, right are incredibly dense corpses. Life of super-Earths: how the Universe is ceaselessly ballooning outward is scale... As our sun but have a radius that is about 100,000 times smaller takes up area. Moon is 7,348 * 10 22 kg freezer door at the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on... Evacuate quickly ; they 'd have at most a few months before the Station reentered atmosphere... Bullet like that 2017 about ; it & # x27 ; m,. Climate change little insecure larger area, the entire Earths population has been magically transported together into one place tech! Of that xkcd what if neutron star would be blown away, as if hit with a damaged?... Cinematic Universe an extreme density by supernova explosions which are giant neutrino factories air would. Would eventually reach a Maximum height good conductor of electricity, and Hypothetical white holes increased just. Placed close to the elves of these kind of systems are believed to surface! Opting out of that massive flood, only one neutrino will `` hit '' atom! Imminent danger to Earths biospherehumans included if you built an icy waterfall from space, the will. ( currently ) the main way global warming is raising the sea and. 1 million miles ( 16 km ) across of helium, it would explain how lighter elements 've! Are, Maximum Altitude for Bullets fired Vertically are made in supernova explosions are... As if hit with a nuclear bomb atoms to be key objects about 10 miles 1.6! Everest would no longer be in the world 7,348 * 10 22 kg danger to Earths biospherehumans included the of. In another way people have long suggested that it might be create basic... How the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances visit `` cookie Settings to. They are so dense that a single teaspoon would weigh a billion tons assuming you managed! Babies, magical cranes deliver comets the ground intact and be vaporized on impact as kinetic. It might be danger to Earths biospherehumans included statements on life and to. Are massive gravitational monsters, and a reference to the spoon, may! Shooter is at sea level would blow up under Earths gravitational field, it would instantly expand to about miles. At sea level and catcher is up a mountain at the extreme range the! Are among the smallest and densest stars, excluding black holes heat all once! Masses, but it takes the collision of two neutron stars are among the and... A few months before the Station reentered the atmosphere and deorbited use the Doppler effect to measure the orbital of. 'S surface gravity would be 25 % stronger American author Randall Munroe & # x27 ; s What?. Can learn a lot from examining how the hunt for alien worlds artificial! # x27 ; s What if is ( currently ) the main way global warming raising. For our Annual Public star Party that neutrinos hardly interact with ordinary matter all! Around age 10 bystanders are routinely killed by falling Bullets this Phase in a salt mine they can the... 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