A teaspoonful of neutron star material on Earth would weigh
A) about the same as a teaspoonful of Earth-like material.
B) a few tons.
C) more than Mt. Everest.
D) more than the Moon.
E) more than Earth.
The correct answer and explanation is :
The correct answer is:
C) more than Mt. Everest.
Explanation:
A neutron star is an incredibly dense remnant of a massive star that has undergone a supernova explosion. It is composed almost entirely of neutrons, with its atoms crushed to extreme densities by gravity. This results in one of the densest forms of matter in the universe, second only to black holes.
To understand the weight of a teaspoonful of neutron star material on Earth, let’s consider its density. The average density of a neutron star is about 4 × 10¹⁷ kg/m³ (or 400 trillion kg per cubic meter). This is immensely higher than any material found on Earth.
Now, let’s estimate the mass of a teaspoonful (about 5 cubic centimeters or 5 × 10⁻⁶ cubic meters) of neutron star material:
[
\text{Mass} = \text{Density} \times \text{Volume}
]
[
= (4 × 10^{17} \text{ kg/m}^3) × (5 × 10^{-6} \text{ m}^3)
]
[
= 2 × 10^{12} \text{ kg} = 2 trillion kg
]
This is about 400 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza or roughly 10 times the mass of Mt. Everest (which is about 200 billion kg). Therefore, a teaspoonful of neutron star material would weigh more than Mt. Everest on Earth.
However, this material could never actually exist on Earth in this state—outside the neutron star’s immense gravity, it would rapidly expand or even explode due to the intense internal pressure.