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Considering the fact that naturally occurring neutronium, or neutron degenerate matter is created by stars more massive than the sun, it is apparent that electron-degenerate pressure is difficult to overcome.

However, would the same pressure be capable of disassembling neutronium once the force holding the neutrons together is removed?

In other words, if a small piece (a salt-grain sized piece) of neutronium is separated from a neutron star and placed in empty space, would it decay into proton and electrons again? Or would some permanent change have occurred to the matter that it cannot "reverse-transform" easily?

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    $\begingroup$ No they would not be stable. It is the gravitational field that provides the energy to raise the density and not allow the neutrons to decay $\endgroup$
    – anna v
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 3:44

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It would be explosively unstable; the neutrons, which thanks to degeneracy, would be travelling at speeds of a fair fraction of $c$ would fly apart. After some tens of minutes they would almost all have decayed to electrons and protons.

I provided some numbers here: What would happen to a teaspoon of neutron star material if released on Earth?

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  • $\begingroup$ Can we calculate the mass of the smallest possible stable blob of neutron star material? Is it simply the Chandrasekhar limit, or can something smaller be stable, even if it cannot form from natural processes? $\endgroup$
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented May 19, 2022 at 4:00
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    $\begingroup$ @PM2Ring physics.stackexchange.com/questions/143166/… $\endgroup$
    – ProfRob
    Commented May 19, 2022 at 6:33

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