[Ads-l] neutron pasta

[Jonathan Lighter]

http://www.space.com/30263-paul-sutter-on-why-magnetars-are-scary.html

"The neutron star's interior is a complicated dance of physics under
extreme conditions, resulting in very odd structures. The oddity starts
near the surface, with blobs of a few hundred neutrons that are best
described as neutron gnocchi. Below that, the neutron blobs glue together
into long chains. We have entered the spaghetti layer. Underneath that, at
even more extreme pressures, the spaghetti strands fuse side by side and
form lasagna sheets. Under it all, even neutron lasagna loses its shape,
becoming a uniform mass. But that mass has gaps in it, in the form of long
tubes. At last: delicious penne.

"I wish I were making these names up, but physicists must be especially
hungry people when coming up with metaphors."

JL





-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org