- #1
rdn98
- 39
- 0
A neutron star is formed when a star has burned all its nuclear fuel and begins to collapse in upon itself. It then packs roughly the mass of our Sun into a region with the same radius as that of a small city while continuing to spin at very rapid rate. Let's say you have a neutron star with a radius of 13 km and rotational velocity of 103 rotations per minute.
---------------------------------------------------------------------a) What is must be the minimum mass so that the material on its surface remains in place?
First thing I did was convert rotational velocity to translational velocity.
so (103 rev/min)(2pi/1rev)(1min/60secs)*13000m= A (lets just keep it simple for now)
Well, I want the minimum mass, so I looked into the gravitatin chapter, and the only thing that pops out at me is the escape speed formula
v=sqrt(2*G*M/R)
where G is the gravitation constant
M is my variable
and R is my radius.
So I plugged in my velocity, and solved for M, but its not working out right. Am I missing something here, or am I on the right track? *sigh* Too much time wasted on this problem..lol
---------------------------------------------------------------------a) What is must be the minimum mass so that the material on its surface remains in place?
First thing I did was convert rotational velocity to translational velocity.
so (103 rev/min)(2pi/1rev)(1min/60secs)*13000m= A (lets just keep it simple for now)
Well, I want the minimum mass, so I looked into the gravitatin chapter, and the only thing that pops out at me is the escape speed formula
v=sqrt(2*G*M/R)
where G is the gravitation constant
M is my variable
and R is my radius.
So I plugged in my velocity, and solved for M, but its not working out right. Am I missing something here, or am I on the right track? *sigh* Too much time wasted on this problem..lol