The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
1–10 of 83 posts
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#2Lemme guess, you caught this from http://xkcd.com/1331/ too?
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#3does this mean that time flows significantly faster on the outside of the pulsar then on the inside, if so does this significantly impact the pulsar dynamics?
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#4does this mean that time flows significantly faster on the outside of the pulsar then on the inside, if so does this significantly impact the pulsar dynamics?
It doesn't affect the dynamics, but it might affect the radiation emitted by it as seen from the outside. All particles in the dilated reference experience the same dilation (approximately - it does vary radially, not sure if significant).
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#5does this mean that time flows significantly faster on the outside of the pulsar then on the inside, if so does this significantly impact the pulsar dynamics?
There is not much difference. The relativistic factor is 1.030107, that is a ~3% change.
EDIT:
My amateur physics say that the gravitational well adds 9.7% to that.
I tried the same calculation for earth and it gave a sensible result: a change of 6.95 * 10^-10.
Here is an answer from physics exchange which gets the same result: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/10089/gravitation...
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#6does this mean that time flows significantly faster on the outside of the pulsar then on the inside, if so does this significantly impact the pulsar dynamics?
There is not much difference. The relativistic factor is 1.030107, that is a ~3% change. EDIT: My amateur physics say that the gravitational well adds 9.7% to that. I tried the same calculation for earth and it gave a sensible result: a change of 6.95 * 10^-10. Here is an answer from physics exchange which gets the same result: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/10089/gravitation...
That's about 11 days per year, or 43 minutes per day.
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#7Anyone feel like calculating the energy embodied in just the rotation of this star?
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#8does this mean that time flows significantly faster on the outside of the pulsar then on the inside, if so does this significantly impact the pulsar dynamics?
There is not much difference. The relativistic factor is 1.030107, that is a ~3% change. EDIT: My amateur physics say that the gravitational well adds 9.7% to that. I tried the same calculation for earth and it gave a sensible result: a change of 6.95 * 10^-10. Here is an answer from physics exchange which gets the same result: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/10089/gravitation...
Keep in mind that differences in gravity will also affect time dilation.
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#9Lemme guess, you caught this from http://xkcd.com/1331/ too?
Yep, I saw that little guy blinking away and had to know more...
Re: The fastest pulsar spins at 716Hz; its equator spins at 24% the speed of light
#10Anyone feel like calculating the energy embodied in just the rotation of this star?
About 10^46 J?
In the classical approximation (1/2 Iω^2), assuming a uniform sphere of 2.0 solar masses and r=16 km.
That's about 3% of the mass-energy (mc^2 = 3e47 J).
This could be way off.