WEBVTT - What Is Nuclear Pasta?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain

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<v Speaker 1>stuff loring vogel bomb here. Nuclear pasta might sound like

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<v Speaker 1>a fancy concoction cooked up by a chef working in

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<v Speaker 1>molecular astronomy, but it's actually light years away, literally from

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<v Speaker 1>the spaghetti you'd find in the kitchen. This weird kind

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<v Speaker 1>of noodle is needed below the crust of neutron stars,

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<v Speaker 1>and in a new study, a powerful computer simulation has

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<v Speaker 1>taken a stab at manipulating this stellar noodle and found

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<v Speaker 1>that it's the strongest material in the cosmos. So how

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<v Speaker 1>did this nuclear pasta become the super Macaroni of the universe. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>it's because it's created inside neutron stars, which act like

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<v Speaker 1>extreme pressure cookers. Neutron stars are these stellar corpses of

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<v Speaker 1>massive stars that have run out of fuel and exploded

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<v Speaker 1>as supernova. These tiny, fast spinning objects are only a

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<v Speaker 1>dozen or so miles wide and yet pack in the

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<v Speaker 1>entire mass of our Sun. They're so dense that only

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<v Speaker 1>a teaspoon full of neutron star matter weighs as much

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<v Speaker 1>as a mountain on Earth. Neutron stars are therefore not

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<v Speaker 1>composed of normal matter, but rather what astrophysicists call degenerate matter.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not an insult. It's just the term for extremely

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<v Speaker 1>compact neutrons that are crushed together under incredibly powerful gravitational forces.

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<v Speaker 1>A neutron star is extreme gravity makes its outer layers

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<v Speaker 1>freeze solid as a crust with a liquid core below.

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<v Speaker 1>Underneath the crust, powerful forces royal between the neutrons and

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<v Speaker 1>protons inside the neutron stars matter, causing the material to

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<v Speaker 1>take on some surprising shapes like long cylinders and flat planes.

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<v Speaker 1>Astrophysicists refer to these shapes as things like lasagna, spaghetti,

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<v Speaker 1>and nioki, and collectively as nuclear pasta because astro physicists

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<v Speaker 1>get to make their own fun. Understanding how this nuclear

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<v Speaker 1>pasta works is a key concern. A researcher Matthew Kaplan,

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<v Speaker 1>a postdoctoral research fellow at McGill University, set in a statement,

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<v Speaker 1>the strength of the neutron star crust, especially the bottom

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<v Speaker 1>of the crust, is relevant to a large number of

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<v Speaker 1>astrophysics problems, but isn't well understood. Their outer layers the

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<v Speaker 1>part we actually observe, So we need to understand that

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<v Speaker 1>in order to interpret astronomical observations of these stars. To

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<v Speaker 1>get a better understanding of this noodly mess, Kaplan and

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<v Speaker 1>his team created the most complex computer simulation ever carried

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<v Speaker 1>out on neutron star crusts to understand how they warp

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<v Speaker 1>and break. It turns out that nuclear pasta is way

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<v Speaker 1>beyond al Dente. It's the strongest known material in the universe.

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<v Speaker 1>This is especially important as physicists can now measure gravitational waves,

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<v Speaker 1>the ripples in space time caused by massive cosmic objects

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<v Speaker 1>like neutron stars and black holes spinning, colliding, and merging.

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<v Speaker 1>The crust of neutron stars is therefore very important for

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<v Speaker 1>science to understand. In fact, low neutron stars may produce

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<v Speaker 1>their own weak gravitational waves by creating rigid mountains in

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<v Speaker 1>their crests. As neutron stars spin, these mountains would disturb

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<v Speaker 1>space time like a propeller cutting through a calm lake surface,

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<v Speaker 1>generating a constant source of gravitational waves that we may

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<v Speaker 1>be able to detect in the future. Kaplan said, a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of interesting physics is going on here under extreme conditions,

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<v Speaker 1>and so understanding the physical properties of a neutron star

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<v Speaker 1>is a way for scientists to test their theories and

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<v Speaker 1>models With this result, many problems need to be revisited.

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<v Speaker 1>How large a mountain can you build on a neutron

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<v Speaker 1>star before the crust breaks and it collapses, what will

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<v Speaker 1>it look like, and most importantly, how can astronomers observe it?

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<v Speaker 1>So the next time you're boiling your penny, take a

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<v Speaker 1>minute to ponder the mountains of nuclear pasta that could

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<v Speaker 1>feed us a lot about the nature of neutron stars.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Ian O'Neill and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. For more on this end lots of other

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<v Speaker 1>Noodley topics, visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com.