How dense would neutron matter be?

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Neutron matter, when contained, would not remain in a bottle due to thermal neutrons diffusing through the walls and interacting with nuclei, unlike protons that stop at the walls. The density of neutrons in a neutron star is incredibly high, prevented from collapsing by the Pauli exclusion principle, making it one of the densest forms of matter. The inward force of glass walls is negligible compared to the gravitational force in a neutron star, raising questions about the feasibility of containing neutrons. Additionally, hydrogen embrittlement is a concern when dealing with protons in materials like steel. Overall, the discussion highlights the complexities of neutron behavior and containment in comparison to protons.
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if you took plain neutrons, and put them in a bottle would a bottle full of neutrons weigh less than a bottle of bear protons with no electrons arround?
 
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You'd have to squeeze them to change the density any. In a neutron star (that's a collapsed star that started out more massive than the sun, and ended up the same size as some asteroids--10ish km in diameter) neutrons at the core of the star avoid collapse via the Pauli exclusion principle. In other words, it's about as dense as matter can get without turning into whatever black holes are made of.

Average densities are tabulated in the link below:
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1998/AnthonyColgan.shtml
 
I don't think your question matches the title. Putting particles in a bottle is a different situation than the density of a substance. Certainly the inward force provided by glass walls is much smaller than the inward force of gravity from a neutron star.
 
Why would the neutrons stay in the bottle?
 
Thermal neutrons, which are not sensitive to the Coulomb forces in atoms or to the Pauli exclusion principle (except inside nuclei), will diffuse through the bottle walls until they are captured by nuclei that usually go through (n,gamma) reactions. Sometimes they go through (n,alpha) reactions like neutron capture on boron-10. Protons, which are repelled by other other protons or by nuclei, will stop in the bottle walls and capture electrons from the other nuclei. Hydrogen atoms, being small, can diffuse into the bottle walls (or back into the gas as hydrogen) and cause hydrogen embrittlement, especially in steels. This is a concern in the development of the hydrogen economy. To get a sense of the density of a proton gas, it is now possible to buy capacitors that hold a Coulomb of (electron) charge. But a mole (gram molecular weight) of protons contains 96,000 Coulombs of charge.
 
Bob S said:
Thermal neutrons, which are not sensitive to the Coulomb forces in atoms or to the Pauli exclusion principle (except inside nuclei), will diffuse through the bottle walls until they are captured by nuclei that usually go through (n,gamma) reactions. Sometimes they go through (n,alpha) reactions like neutron capture on boron-10. Protons, which are repelled by other other protons or by nuclei, will stop in the bottle walls and capture electrons from the other nuclei. Hydrogen atoms, being small, can diffuse into the bottle walls (or back into the gas as hydrogen) and cause hydrogen embrittlement, especially in steels. This is a concern in the development of the hydrogen economy. To get a sense of the density of a proton gas, it is now possible to buy capacitors that hold a Coulomb of (electron) charge. But a mole (gram molecular weight) of protons contains 96,000 Coulombs of charge.

so the neutrons wouldn't even be able to stay in the bottle because theyde just go through the walls? also, do you mean through like a path straight through the walls of the bottle?
 
alxm said:
Why would the neutrons stay in the bottle?

if you seal it they shouldn't escape right
 
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