3 ms·

With the confining pressure of gravity gone, it would instantly and violently expand. The intense 10^32 pascals of degeneracy pressure drop quickly with expansi

by kmm 7y ago

With the confining pressure of gravity gone, it would instantly and violently expand. The intense 10^32 pascals of degeneracy pressure drop quickly with expansion, but even just assuming it can expand 5 ml at that pressure, the energy released would be 5e26 joules. That's about 1000 times the asteroid that made the dinosaurs extinct. It would certainly imply the end of all multicellular life. If somehow you could keep it confined, it would drop through whatever it was put on, through the entire Earth, and pop up at the other side. I suppose it would keep oscillating and eventually settle in the core.

_Understated_ 7y ago
Blimey. So I'd probably not even notice someone had teleported it here in the first place as I blinked out of existence :) Ok, on that note... what would it expand as? I mean, would it be a physical substance, like particles of something like a gas or a plasma? I assume it'd be quite hot (putting it mildly!)
- posterboy 7y ago
  It would be sugar, obviously. A solar system sized Cotton Candy Cloud. Hey, I didn't start this sweet analogy.
- jerf 7y ago
  It will cool into conventional matter eventually, but it would pass through a lot of exotic phases in between. I'm not sure we can even really answer that question, but here's something to give you an idea of what I mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark%E2%80%93gluon_plasma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark%E2%80%93gluon_plasma I'm not sure it would necessarily pass through that, but it would at least make a decent pass at it in those first few nanoseconds. If kmm's guesstimate of 5e26 joules is accurate, we're well beyond "extinguishing multicellular life" and in the realm of eliminating Earth entirely, which requires a minimum of 5.97e24 joules: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_binding_energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_binding_energy 1% efficiency of transfer to the Earth is probably attainable.
  - kmm 7y ago
    I think you might have mistaken the Earth's mass in kg with the gravitational binding energy. That last one is 2.5e32 J. So about a millionth of the neutron sugar cube.
    - jerf 7y ago
      facepalm Urf, I was right the first time. Oh well.
mnw21cam 7y ago
An answer almost worthy of "What If?" Are you sure your name isn't Randall?
RHSman2 7y ago
Surely our answer to energy problems. Theoretically

by kmm 7y ago

_Understated_ 7y ago

Blimey. So I'd probably not even notice someone had teleported it here in the first place as I blinked out of existence :) Ok, on that note... what would it expand as? I mean, would it be a physical substance, like particles of something like a gas or a plasma? I assume it'd be quite hot (putting it mildly!)

posterboy 7y ago
It would be sugar, obviously. A solar system sized Cotton Candy Cloud. Hey, I didn't start this sweet analogy.
jerf 7y ago
It will cool into conventional matter eventually, but it would pass through a lot of exotic phases in between. I'm not sure we can even really answer that question, but here's something to give you an idea of what I mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark%E2%80%93gluon_plasma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark%E2%80%93gluon_plasma I'm not sure it would necessarily pass through that, but it would at least make a decent pass at it in those first few nanoseconds. If kmm's guesstimate of 5e26 joules is accurate, we're well beyond "extinguishing multicellular life" and in the realm of eliminating Earth entirely, which requires a minimum of 5.97e24 joules: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_binding_energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_binding_energy 1% efficiency of transfer to the Earth is probably attainable.
- kmm 7y ago
  I think you might have mistaken the Earth's mass in kg with the gravitational binding energy. That last one is 2.5e32 J. So about a millionth of the neutron sugar cube.
  - jerf 7y ago
    facepalm Urf, I was right the first time. Oh well.

mnw21cam 7y ago

An answer almost worthy of "What If?" Are you sure your name isn't Randall?

RHSman2 7y ago

Surely our answer to energy problems. Theoretically