Baxter
2013-04-11 15:09:44 UTC
"Keep in mind a neutron is not a bound system of an electron and a proton, though leading physicist Rutherford once thought so. It is a separate particle, though it can be formed by the merger of an electron and a proton.
....extra energy is needed to form the additional mass of the neutron. That's why protons and electrons don't merge under normal circumstances. ....it is the gravitational energy that supplies the extra energy. By adopting the form of neutrons, the matter in the star can become more compact, and thus have less gravitational potential energy. Although the mass-energy of the constituent particles is increased, the total energy is decreased." end quote.
Would then, a star undergoing such neutron generation show a perceptible drop in gravitational potential? You indicated, "By adopting the form of neutrons, the matter in the star can become more compact, and thus have less gravitational potential energy". Wouldn't the increase in mass, regardless of compacity, increase the gravitational potential, perhaps equaled by a decrease in the spectral energies? It sounds a bit like a self-defeating change if gravitational potential is used to create gravitational potential, though I suppose it may take 10 units of gravity to create a neutron which then generates only 1 additional unit of gravity... hmmm...