[HN Gopher] The Magnetar, nature's ultimate superweapon
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The Magnetar, nature's ultimate superweapon
Author : hexo
Score : 75 points
Date : 2022-06-18 14:14 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
| arthurcolle wrote:
| Also the name of a credit hedge fund during the GFC. I wonder if
| they are still around
| thriftwy wrote:
| A lot of stuff can kill you wimpy 1000 km away. How would you
| even get so close to a magnetar?
|
| Supernova may perhaps fry your planet a couple dozens light years
| away!
| hexo wrote:
| Strongest magnetars would rip apart all molecules even
| 150gigameters away.
| DeathArrow wrote:
| >And here's the best part: They have the strongest magnetic
| fields ever observed, so strong they can melt you--literally
| dissociate you down to the atomic level--from a thousand
| kilometers away.
|
| Why should they destroy a human or anything that does not have an
| magnetic field or it's made from iron?
| [deleted]
| kadoban wrote:
| If nothing else, everything is diamagnetic if the field is
| strong enough. The effect is usually just too weak to worry
| about.
|
| Though I don't think this is exactly why, might be related.
| thehappypm wrote:
| Atoms are made of charged particles, so a strong enough
| magnetic field will act on these. Most magnetic fields are a
| total joke and can only act on highly charged particles but
| strong enough? The electrons in your tissue can get pulled away
| from their nuclei.
| pvg wrote:
| Subject was "[...] turned to steel in the great magnetic field"
| [1]
|
| [1] Iommi T., Osbourne O., Butler G., Ward B. (1970). A Ferrous
| Human _Journal of Paranoia_ , t. 4.
| antod wrote:
| OK, that was hilarious. Thanks for making my day better.
| hexo wrote:
| Because of electrons, they are moving charge wich does interact
| with magnetic field. At this strong levels, it's quickly
| detrimental for molecules.
| philipswood wrote:
| From the article:
|
| >The problem is that atoms are made of positively charged
| protons and negatively charged electrons. In weak magnetic
| fields, this doesn't make a bit of difference. But in strong
| fields, the electrons and protons respond differently. Atoms
| lose their traditional shape, and the electron orbitals become
| elongated along the direction of the magnetic field lines.
|
| > ... your individual atoms would only be 1 percent as wide as
| they are long. With atoms turning into needles, atomic physics
| as we know it breaks down. As does all the bonds that atoms use
| to glue themselves together into complex molecules.
|
| >In other words, the static magnetic field of a magnetar is
| strong enough to simply... dissociate you. All the molecules
| that you're made of simply come apart into oddly shaped atoms.
| [deleted]
| perihelions wrote:
| Because magnetic fields interact with electrically charged, or
| electrically conductive things too. Strong enough magnetic
| fields will induce eddy currents in your brain and make you
| taste metal (don't have a reference handy; this is a known
| symptom of certain high-field MRI's and there's probably an HN
| thread about it). Turn up the field a few orders of magnitude,
| and the Ohmic heating from induced currents will vaporize you.
|
| Magnetars are so far beyond merely "vaporized", there's no
| adequate language for "deforms and tears apart the electron
| orbitals of your constituent atoms"; I guess "melt" is close
| enough for pop science! Basically, you're no longer "matter" in
| the conventional sense of the word -- you're no longer made of
| (recognizable) atoms.
| jpgvm wrote:
| Space sounds like Outback Australia, most of it's empty but the
| few things there are will just kill you.
|
| Doesn't sound very hospitable.
| elorant wrote:
| That for me explains the Fermi Paradox. Yes there a gazillion
| of stars and planets out there, but there's also a lot of
| things that could go pop and sterilize everything tens or even
| hundreds of light years away.
| jeffparsons wrote:
| I like that analogy. Because if you bring a well-stocked
| caravan, tools and spare parts, a radio, and a bit of know-how,
| you'll probably actually be fine.
|
| Living "out there" for an extended period would be extremely
| difficult, but given what else sufficiently motivated humans
| have figured out, I think not the impossibility that many
| people imagine.
| ozim wrote:
| I think not really and outback Australia in my mind is not
| bad - you have to struggle some but you still might survive.
| Snakes, dingoes will be mostly afraid of people if you put up
| a fire in the night wild creatures will leave you be. There
| is heat during the day that does not care and can burn you
| badly, but if you stay in shade and take enough water it
| might be still quite ok.
|
| But space in my mind is H. P. Lovecraft horror - it is empty
| but there are these unknown unknowns that don't care about
| what you are - they will just kill you without even noticing
| you were alive. Micro meteors, Van Allen radiation belts,
| random radiation like cosmic rays without atmosphere
| protection, exposure to the sun without atmosphere
| protection. It is not just some equipment, people can stay at
| ISS because there is loads of tech deployed to keep them
| safe.
| roscoebeezie wrote:
| I reading the article I think the ships from The Expanse were
| aptly named
| JorgeGT wrote:
| I sometimes wonder how far is Musk from naming something _Voice
| of the Whirlwind_.
| pilsetnieks wrote:
| Why would he be very far from that? Also, I haven't read the
| book but from the synapsis it doesn't seem particularly
| disruptive.
|
| He already has ships named _Of Course I Still Love You_ ,
| _Just Read the Instructions_ , _A Shortfall of Gravitas_. If
| anything, I 'd expect him to name a ship _No More Mr Nice
| Guy_ or _Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints_ , or
| for that matter, the _Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing
| Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of
| The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Milquetoast
| Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath_
| WJW wrote:
| Musk has his moments, but I don't think he's building
| spaceships kitted out for war just yet.
| jl6 wrote:
| So we definitely need to visit one of these and harness it to
| drive high energy physics experiments.
| [deleted]
| uejfiweun wrote:
| I would love to do a 6-month rotation at humanity's magnetar
| research outpost. Seems like a great setting for a movie or
| video game.
| jl6 wrote:
| Since these things only last for a short amount of time
| (cosmically speaking), physicists of the future will be like
| today's tornado chasers, planning thousands of years in
| advance in order to park their detectors at just the right
| spot for a chance to wind their windows down, stick their
| heads out, and get their hair Einstein'd in the passing star
| death shockwaves.
| throwawaymaths wrote:
| I believe this was the premise of the star trek: tng
| episode "evolution" featuring Dr Kelso.
| [deleted]
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