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No, at some point gravity becomes important and you can make enormous atomic nuclei. Neutron stars are about 5% protons. I don't think people would think these
by russdill 2y ago
No, at some point gravity becomes important and you can make enormous atomic nuclei. Neutron stars are about 5% protons. I don't think people would think these would count though as it's not like you can have chemistry between neutron stars and the electrons do not behave like they do in atoms. And past another point you just get a black hole.
So clearly there is a limit. Either bounded by the point where gravity becomes dominant or when you get a black hole.
- jessriedel 2y agoFor sufficiently heavy nuclei, you would cease to have any bound states way, way before gravitational effects were important.
- zelphirkalt 2y agoNeutron stars certainly do have attraction ... don't see why they can't have some chemistry as well. They seem cool after all.
- mystified5016 2y agoChemistry happens in the electron cloud surrounding the atoms. Specifically the orbitals. While there may be some electrons in and around a neutron star, they are not organized into orbitals. By definition, a neutron star cannot undergo chemical reactions. What happens in neutron stars is somewhere between nuclear reactions and quantum effects. Both of which are decidedly not "chemistry" in the way most people use that word. More generally, only normal atoms can undergo chemistry. All of chemistry depends on the arrangement of electron orbitals. Once you leave that domain, you're in an entirely different field of physics.
- russdill 2y agoThe problem isn't attraction, the problem is they lack meaningful repulsion. They would just collide.