How To Make Nuclear Pasta

BY KRIPAMOYE BISWAS

Nuclear pasta is definitely not your average Italian dish. In fact, it is nowhere close to being Italian...or a dish. Though its existence is still questioned, nuclear pasta is possibly the strongest material in the universe, and almost 10 billion times harder to break compared to steel. As unbelievable as this may sound, its tremendous strength is due to its odd structure: large amounts of matter compressed into atomic neutron stars. What’s even remarkable is that it has a close resemblance to pasta, as it appears to be made of long cylindrical rods and flat plains. Hence, there are a variety of nuclear pastas, from gnocchi to spaghetti to lasagna to anti-spaghetti and much more! But as of right now, scientists have only started to work with nuclear lasagna. One might imagine that the process of creating nuclear pasta is very complex, but the basics for any type consists of only two steps and only two ingredients.

Ingredients

- 1 supernova - A smidge of luck

Directions

First, you must create a supernova, which is when a giant star explodes. These stars must be at least 8 solar masses (meaning these are stars eight times the size of the sun!)

How? Well, there must be a change in the core of a star, which can occur in two ways. The first happens within a binary star system, which is when two stars are orbiting the same point and radiate gravitational energy towards each other. This energy can cause them to go closer to each other and transfer matter with each other. Usually, one star transfers matters to the other, and the latter star is known as the carbon-oxygen white dwarf. Throughout time, the white dwarf gradually accumulates too much matter and explodes, creating a supernova. The second happens right before a star dies, which is when the star runs out of nuclear fuel, resulting in mass flowing into its core. Sooner or later, the core becomes too heavy to withstand the pressure, causing the star to explode.

How long? Well, it can take up to a few million years, but it entirely depends on the star. This may seem quite long, but I promise you that it is worth the wait!

Second, you are going to need your luck! Either a neutron star or a black hole will result from this explosion. For this recipe, the desired result is a neutron star.

Neutron stars are highly dense and consist of compact neutrons, due to the fact that the core holds much of the weight of the original star contained. They are at least 1.4 solar masses and a maximum of three solar masses. On the other hand, black holes are just areas of space with very strong gravitational forces. They are at least three solar masses and usually up to 10 solar masses (though they can be larger). Black holes can result from neutron stars when they are too large.

The reason why we prefer neutron stars over black holes is that neutron stars overcome a force called “electron degeneracy pressure”, which is a pressure exerted from materials similar to white dwarfs and allows neutron stars to capture electrons. Eventually, there will be neutrons, electrons, and protons compressed into a relatively tiny star. The protons and neutrons have a very strong attraction to each other, causing them to stick to each other, and is key to the actual formation of nuclear pasta.

How long? Well, this is still unknown, but it does take a while.

Now, you know the two essential steps to creating nuclear pasta. But, there’s more! As I mentioned earlier, there are quite a few different types (or phases). And oddly enough, each type forms from each other! The current, simplest version is nuclear gnocchi, which is usually found in a semispherical shape. If the gnocchi is compressed, the protons within it begin to form long rod shapes, now resembling nuclear spaghetti. Others tend to stop there, but if you enjoy a challenge, you can compress the spaghetti such that the proton rods fuse and form sheets, creating nuclear lasagna. And from the lasagna, you can compress it further to finally create nuclear bucatini, which resembles the lasagna, but with scattered, cylindrical holes. Whatever your favorite may be, all forms of nuclear pasta are certainly interesting. While scientists have yet to confirm its existence, nuclear pasta is something we all should consider learning (or

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