Densest materials in the universe and can this be replicated on earth if not why?

[sarahfee]

According to my research the densest material in the universe is a collapsed star or neutron and from what I've read is that it's so compressed that a thimble full of it would weigh millions of tonnes on Earth. How is this possible, how can you keep squeezing a substance into a small space as surely there's a limit or does this happening in space in non gravity and super high temperatures have something to do with it? My real question is could this be replicated on earth if not with star material with metals or gases, could we just keep on ramming atoms one after another till we got a super dense material?

[New Judge]

“Non-gravity” and super high temperatures have nothing to do with it. In fact the reverse is true.

Atoms consist almost entirely of empty space. There is a huge void between the atom’s nucleus (the protons and neutrons) and the electrons forming the outer shell. (The diameter of the entire atom is about 100,000 times the diameter of the nucleus.

In a collapsed star the force of gravity has nothing to counter it. The star is “dead” and the nuclear reactions which powered it (and countered gravity) have finished. The matter becomes ever more compressed under the force of gravity. The electrons are forced closer and closer to the nuclei until almost all the space is eliminated and the electrons are in contact with the nuclei. It is this which leads to the super high densities to which you refer.

This can only happen to bodies which are more massive than about 1.3 times the mass of the Sun. Below this the nuclear forces which keep atoms intact are strong enough to overcome the force of gravity, so such matter could not be produced on earth.

[sarahfee]

Thank you for a very informative answer newjudge. Is this super dense material a solid?

[New Judge]

I think it's a bit more complex than our conventional "solid, liquid, gas" understanding.

This article on Wiki:

http://uk.ask.com/wiki/Neutron_star

gives you some info. Have a look under "structure". I must say it's not something I can really grasp or understand. I just like reading about it!

[sarahfee]

I was just wondering that at that density and if it was solid wouldn't a small brick sized meteor or asteroid made from this be able to shatter earth, jupiter or the sun with ease, but as you said it seems to be more complex than just matter. Thanks so much and will look forward to reading this later.

[New Judge]

Such a small chunk of it is unlikely to exist, sara.

The matter is only formed from massive objects far more massive than our Sun and because of its very nature it would, I imagine, tend to stick together! An extension to this sequence of events occurs in stars of more than about three solar masses. It is thought that these collapse to an even greater extent than neutron stars and form “Black Holes”. In these the normal physics that we understand breaks down entirely.

Happy reading !!!

[R1Geezer]

As the judge says, smaller peices are unlikely to exists because it takes stars bigger than the sun to create, no material could cut a bit off, even if 2 such stars collided they would merge under gravity rather than shatter, possibly creating a black hole if the 2 masses exceed the Chandrasakar Limit for Black holes. If the earth got near one of these we would be torn to shreds by tidal forces initaiilly before adding a micron or so to the diameter of the Nuetron Star. This process would take only seconds to compete!

[jake-the-peg]

That's a very good question sara

I'd have to say probably not.

Normally atoms are kept apart by the electrostatic forces between their electron shells.

When you ram them together harder they nucleii tend to fuse together like in a star to produce larger nucleii.

In a neutron star there is a continual massive gravitational force holding those nucleii together in a lattice. They are only stopped from collapsing into a black hole by quantum forces.

However we are able to create some similar states of matter like Einsetin Bose condensates or Fermionic condensates at very low temperatures.

These are quantum states of matter where the atoms can be treated as waves and tend to merge together into a single entity.

See here

http://science.nasa.g...2/03apr_neutronstars/

[sarahfee]

Well thank you all for helping me understand this a little better.

[roger]

Isaac Asimov covered this in a book called The Collapsing Universe but I doubt if it's still in print