A teaspoon can outweigh a mountain
Neutron-star matter has a density around that of an atomic nucleus. A teaspoon of it would have a mass of order a billion tonnes.
Established2 min read
A neutron star is a stellar core squeezed to a radius of about 12 kilometres. Nuclear density is near 10¹⁷ kilograms per cubic metre. A teaspoon is a few millilitres. The product is billions of tonnes.
We do not have a teaspoon of it in a jar. We have masses and radii from binary pulsars, gravitational waves, and the fact that pulsars are these objects. The arithmetic is what the measurements force.
Caveats
- ‘A billion tonnes’ is an order of magnitude. The equation of state of dense matter is still being measured.
- A teaspoon at that density would not sit in a spoon. Gravity would make it a tiny sphere, and then some.
Sources
- 1Shapiro S. L., Teukolsky S. A.. Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars. Wiley, 1983.