Cracking the crusts of neutron stars

[atescoop]

Spoc would be jealous of this gentlemens hair line.

[nbarnardn]

This is by far and away, the coolest video on youtube! I learned alot about neutron stars and dense matter nuclei.

[RythymJunkie]

Maybe Michael could explain why the electromagnetic force which is trying to push the star apart, which just happens to be many trillions of times stronger than gravity, is somehow overcome by gravity in this instance? Does it happen so suddenly that it catches the star unawares? By the way, nobody invented x-rays they already existed! I'd like to know what created that intense gravity field from a star which was just a few solar masses?

[potentialwell]

@RythymJunkie the electromagnetic force is only "many trillion times stronger" at short distances. Also they're "only a few solar masses" (which is large), but crammed into a tiny volume. A neutron star's radius is ~10km (for reference the sun's is 690000km).

[Juxtaroberto]

@RythymJunkie Well, that's debatable, and nowadays, largely arbitrary, as we consider man-made high-energy photons as x-rays and naturally-occurring high-energy photons as gamma rays. Density affects the strength of a gravitational field.

[eltotoX]

Cool!

[prgoodhue]

Michael...I understood everything you said, right up to the end of your name, after that I was lost!!  hehe well, not totally lost. Great video. Your uncle, Paul.

[hollislocke]

This is extremely enlightening. I wish I could take a class taught by this professor.