What consistency and appearance does the solid crust of a neutron star have?

Question

You and your friend are on a neutron star, along with a basketball and the baskets. Assume the gravitational strength is 1 G and you are resistant to fatal factors such as radiation/temperature/pressure/lack of air etc. Would the solid surface be similar to a hard court? What kind of color/appearance/consistency would it have?

Answer 1

It is hard to say because nobody has ever seen anything like it.  A neutron star isn't made up of matter as we know it.  You've probably heard that 1 teaspoon of a neutron star weighs many tons.  It is made up of subatomic particles mushed together.  One would assume that the crust is softer than the core material.  Maybe it is hard like rock, soft like rubber, or some kind of plasma that we can't even imagine.

Answer 2

A star is made from gas - no liquids or solids. In the center is plasma.

Answer 3

It will always be far more than 1G for a neutron star, by definition. Less would not work, as it would cause a form of stellar explosion. The surface gravity on a Neutron star is between 2E+11 and 3E+12 times higher as the surface gravity on Earth (at least 200 billion times more than on Earth)

The rapid rotation of the neutron star (can be up to multiple hundred rotations per second) will not help making it even less than one million G.

From the calculations about it, the crust will be appearing black for you, as all radiation from it is concentrated well above the visible light around the X-Ray region. But it will be in reality one of the hottest things you can find.

The escape velocity of a Neutron star is around 50% of the speed of light. What falls on this star, will be converted into the same kind of compressed, superheated matter as the crust of the star.

Answer 4

LOL, blue sky hasn't been paying attn.

The consistency would be the hardest substance you ever encountered.  As for color, I';m not sure we know what color the surface (pure neutrons) would reflect since we aren't totally sure of the physics in that situation.

Answer 5

The surface would be very hard and very smooth.

Probably highly reflective as well.

Not a good 'B ball` court, you'd slip like crazy.

Answer 6

crunchy on the outside chewy on the inside