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nuclear pasta

nuclear pasta noun: a type of degenerate matter found within the crusts of neutron stars, where the competition between nuclear attraction and Coulomb repulsion forces of similar magnitude allows for the formation of a variety of complex structures assembled from neutrons and protons.

Noun

nuclear pasta (uncountable)

  1. A type of degenerate matter found within the crusts of neutron stars, where the competition between nuclear attraction and Coulomb repulsion forces of similar magnitude allows for the formation of a variety of complex structures assembled from neutrons and protons.
    • Watanabe, Gentaro; Iida, Kei; Sato, Katsuhiko (August 2000), “Thermodynamic properties of nuclear "pasta" in neutron star crusts”, in Nuclear Physics A, volume 676, numbers 1-4, →DOI, pages 455–473
    • The elastic properties of neutron star crusts are relevant for a variety of currently observable or near-future electromagnetic and gravitational wave phenomena. These phenomena may depend on the elastic properties of nuclear pasta found in the inner crust.2018 September 24, M. E. Caplan, A. S. Schneider, C. J. Horowitz, “Elasticity of Nuclear Pasta”, in Physical Review Letters, volume 121, number 13, →DOI, retrieved 26 Aug 2021, page 132701

Origin of nuclear pasta

From the resemblance of its phases to various types of pasta.

Questions about nuclear pasta

What does nuclear pasta mean?
Nuclear pasta means a type of degenerate matter found within the crusts of neutron stars, where the competition between nuclear attraction and Coulomb repulsion forces of similar magnitude allows for the formation of a variety of complex structures assembled from neutrons and protons.
What part of speech is nuclear pasta?
Nuclear pasta is a noun.

Words near nuclear pasta in the dictionary

  1. nuclear membranes
  2. nuclear option
  3. nuclear options
  4. nuclear Overhauser effect
  5. nuclear Overhauser effects
  6. nuclear pasta
  7. nuclear physicist
  8. nuclear physicists
  9. nuclear physics
  10. nuclear pile
  11. nuclear piles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nuclear pasta (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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