Fun Facts! II

The Weirdest Object in the Universe

Remember the time when you were a kid, wishing upon a star and hoping it will come true. Guess what, just like your childhood dreams, stars die.

How stars die depends on their mass. Less massive stars will turn into a white dwarf. Greater massive stars turn into black holes. But if the mass of a star is between the less and greater massive star, it becomes a neutron star. The source of the emitting light of the star is the dynamic fusion of elements in its core. Due to a high temperature, Hydrogen starts fusing itself becoming Helium. When the star is massive enough, Helium starts fusing other elements turning into Carbon. As it gets heavier, atomic nuclei build-up at the center, then carbon fused with other elements into Neon. Neon fuses then turn into Oxygen. Oxygen too joins the fusion party so it becomes a Silicon. When Silicon joined the party the IRON was formed. This means the star is dying because iron cannot fuse into another element because there is not enough energy for fusion. Fusing silicon to iron takes more energy than it gives off. It cannot turn into anything heavier element because it takes an insane amount of energy to fuse iron. And iron is more stable than the previous elements.

So fusion stops. Radiation pressure drops rapidly. The star starts dying. Due to its own immensely powerful gravity, the star begins collapsing within a fraction of a second then its outer layer spread out throughout the space in a form of a violent explosion, a supernova. However, the dense inner core remains. Eventually, the *electrons, **protons, and other subatomic particles within the core merge together to form ***neutrons. As the gravity continues squeezing neutrons together, it reaches the point wherein neutron degeneracy occurs. It is when neutrons resist being squeezed too tightly even the pressure is too strong due to the Pauli Exclusion Principle. This principle states that no two neutrons can occupy the same place and at the same time even under the pressure of a collapsing star due to its immense gravity. So that dead star becomes a neutron star with mind-boggling odd behaviors.

A neutron star is made up of 95% neutrons, hence the name. Its mass is 3 times the sun's mass. To put it into perspective, the size of one sugar cube of a neutron star is as massive as Mt. Everest. And this dead star is smaller than our moon. Its diameter is the same as Manhattan's, 25 kilometers. Its surface gravity is 100 billion times Earth's.  Its magnetic field is 8 trillion times Earth's magnetic field. Meaning, it can distort the shape of atoms when it enters its influence. So if Gokusan tried to train on a neutron star, he cannot withstand the pressure of its gravity. He would be squished and smeared across its surface. And due to its incredible power of gravity, it is one of the smoothest objects in the universe. Also, the surface temperature is 1 million Kelvin than Sun's surface temperature, 5800 Kelvin. Its atmosphere contains 10 centimeters of hot plasma. And it spins ridiculously about 700 times per second thereby emitting a steady ray of light that sweeps around like a lighthouse beam called pulsars. 

The death of the star is so perplexing and more interesting. Astrophysicists are more curious on black holes because it defies some laws of nature. They want to seek the answer but it requires a lot of experiments, observations, and time to acquire the truth. 

Probably, they will find out we're just in a simulation, and those black holes, neutron stars, and other weird inexplicable phenomena are just bugs.  (☉ᴗ☉ ')

*negatively-charge particle

** positive-charge particle

** neutral-charge particle