The weight of a star is usually balanced by two forces: thegravitational force, acting inward, and the force created bynuclear reaction, acting outward. Over a long period of time, theforce due to nuclear reactions gets weaker, causing thegravitational collapse of the star and crushing atoms out ofexistence. Under such extreme conditions, protons and electrons aresqueezed to form neutrons, giving birth to a neutron star. Neutronstars are massively heavy - a teaspoon of the substance of aneutron star would weigh 100 million metric tons on theEarth.
a) Consider a neutron star whose mass is twice the mass of the Sunand whose radius is 10.1 km. If it rotates with a period of 2.51 s,what is the speed of a point on the Equator of this star?
b) What is the value of g at the surface of this star?
c) If a satellite is to circle 10.1 km above the surface of such aneutron star, how many revolutions per minute will it make?
d) What is the radius of the geostationary orbit for this neutronstar?
The weight of a star is usually balanced by two forces: thegravitational force, acting inward, and the force created bynuclear reaction, acting outward. Over a long period of time, theforce due to nuclear reactions gets weaker, causing thegravitational collapse of the star and crushing atoms out ofexistence. Under such extreme conditions, protons and electrons aresqueezed to form neutrons, giving birth to a neutron star. Neutronstars are massively heavy - a teaspoon of the substance of aneutron star would weigh 100 million metric tons on theEarth.
a) Consider a neutron star whose mass is twice the mass of the Sunand whose radius is 10.1 km. If it rotates with a period of 2.51 s,what is the speed of a point on the Equator of this star?
b) What is the value of g at the surface of this star?
c) If a satellite is to circle 10.1 km above the surface of such aneutron star, how many revolutions per minute will it make?
d) What is the radius of the geostationary orbit for this neutronstar?
