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It would be impossible to put neutron star material inside a cardboard box, and the original post was talking about possibility.


If I remember right, given that free neutrons aren’t stable and have a very short half life, it would be explosively unwise even if it was physically possible.


Yes, a free neutron decays to a proton, an electron and an electron neutrino with a half life of 879 seconds. This decay releases 0.8MeV of energy (mostly in the form of kinetic energy of the electron).

My back of the envelope calculation shows that 1 gram of neutronium (approximately a mole) will release 43MW of energy continuously. Multiply that by 10^14 (the number of grams of neutronium per teaspoon) and the resultant energy release would be unimaginably huge. 'Explosively' does not even begin to describe it.


Actually, it too was talking about impossibility (see title); a much stronger assertion and usually wrong.




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