Giant Nucleus
A neutron star has some of the properties of an atomic nucleus, including density and being composed of nucleons. In popular scientific writing, neutron stars are therefore sometimes described as giant nuclei. However, in other respects, neutron stars and atomic nuclei are quite different. In particular, a nucleus is held together by the strong interaction, while a neutron star is held together by gravity. It is generally more useful to consider such objects as stars.
Read more about this topic: Neutron Star
Famous quotes containing the words giant and/or nucleus:
“Long ago the country bore the country-town and nourished it with her best blood. Now the giant city sucks the country dry, insatiably and incessantly demanding and devouring fresh streams of men, till it wearies and dies in the midst of an almost uninhabited waste of country.”
—Oswald Spengler (1880–1936)
“You know that the nucleus of a time is not
The poet but the poem, the growth of the mind
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As victory. The poet does not speak in ruins
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He shares the confusions of intelligence.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)