Question on the dense gases from heavy Stars.?

Question

I just read an article in Scientific American about how a piece of a Blue White Dwarfs mass the size of a golf ball would have the density equaling 1,640 or more tons. Then they went on to say that this matter is not a solid or a liquid but in fact a gas. Then it went on to state that a Neutron Star is even millions of more times denser. My question is how would a solid of a much lesser density interact with this much heavier gas? Would a lesser solid be able to pass through it? Could a liquid pass through this gas? This throws way off my layman’s understanding of Physics. Help from you experts please. I do not major in this so try to keep it somewhat simple. Thank you

Answer 1

The prior answer is a correct explanation of white dwarf stars, but I do not think that addresses your question, so I thought I would try.

First- most materials can be either solids, liquids or gases under dfferent pressures and temperatures. Pressure and temperature work together to determine the state of the matter. Under certain temperature or pressure changes, solids can become gases directly (it's called sublimating). Glance over a phase diagram and you'll get it.

Second- when you bring two materials together, you do it under particular conditions- in a room with a particular pressure and temperature. A tiny piece of white dwarf star is under INCREDIBLY HIGH pressure, and it is very hot. If you could magically move it out of the star and bring it to the surface of Earth, to your lab, where you are experimenting, it would suddenly be at a (relatively) much lower pressure and temperature. As a result, it would expand really rapidly under the lower pressure, and it would raise the temperature of everything around it, trying to reach equilibrium.

So if you magically transported it to a test tube, for instance, the test tube would explode and melt, along with everything around it. All that pressure pushing out would be far too much for our feeble plastics and metals to contain, especially while being heated to melting. Even a little piece of a star would have enough heat to do major damage- the table, the floor, the ground, the rocks beneath- before it could reach equilibrium with the environment on the surface of our planet.

None of this depends greatly on whether the piece of the star was a liquid, gas or solid. Gases do often pass through solids or liquids, and to a really tiny extent, solids pass through each other, and all of their intermixing will speed up if the temperatures and pressures on either side are higher. I hope this helps a bit.

Answer 2

White dwarfs and neutron stars owe their incredible density to gravity. They are both forms of dead stars. While a star is active, the fusion reaction in its core creates an outward pressure that balances the star's gravity. When the fusion reaction dies, there is no longer anything preventing the star from collapsing.

Both are forms of degenerate matter. White dwarfs are electron degenerate, which means the matter is squeezed down by gravity until the electrons can't get any closer. With a still more massive star, gravity is so strong that the electrons merge with protons, creating neutron degeneracy: a neutron star. More massive stars yet have nothing to stop their collapse and they form black holes.

The gravitational fields at the surface of these collapsed stars is so strong that any matter falling on them will also eventually become degenerate. Before that happens, though, the incredible pressure may start a fusion reaction, depending on the nature of the matter. This causes a sudden temporary brightening known as a nova. If enough matter falls on a degenerate star, it can trigger further collapse, either from white dwarf to neutron star or from neutron star to black hole. This causes a tremendous release of energy and is a type of supernova.

Answer 3

did they really say that? in any case, gas is just a state of matter. that same matter has a liquid, solid, plasma, and probably some other states. Different matter has a different temperature at which it switches state. lead is liquid at a much lower temperature than iron. water freezes at a much higher temperature than hydrogen.

but I think the answer to your question is that the less dense solid (which can be thought of matter in ice cube form) dropped into the denser, hotter 'gas' would.. melt. And soon it would no longer be solid. It would be at its own natural state for that temperature, which is probably plasma and beyond (total dissociation through fission or something)