Science/Nerd alert:
Apparently all the text books and the other sources which we have read over our life about how gold is formed was wrong.
Just a few nights ago we were watching "How the universe works" and how a few years ago many of our telescopes here on earth witnessed two neutron stars merging (spinning closer and closer until they collided). Ya, OK, no big deal right? Not so fast.
We were taught that gold is formed when supernova's happen, meaning a star (like our sun) explodes after collapsing in on itself. This theory was always troubling because if you look at the elements of gold, they are neutron rich (118 neutrons and 79 electrons). What does that mean? It is very heavy and takes something extraordinary to create it. Suns exploding never explained how you get that many neutrons in gold atoms.
Well, they have solved that riddle when they witnessed the neutron stars merge and explode. To give you some perspective on a neutron star, it is so dense, a single teaspoon of its core material would weigh more than all the people on earth. 10 billion tons heavy....think about that for a moment.
These neutron stars are only about 12 miles across, but weigh more than our sun (432,000 miles wide). Your weight on a neutron star would be 100 billion times your current weight. So if you were Donald Siegel and weighed 200lbs on earth, his weight on the neutron star would be 20,000,000,000,000 lbs. The magnetic field is so strong that it would literally rip your iron atoms out of your body and it's gravitational field is so strong, you wouldn't be standing on its surface, you'd be a blob of atoms squished into its surface.
The collision event, which is called a kilonova is what creates a neutron rich environment and creates the heavy elements like gold, platinum and uranium.
This one event of two of these stars merging, which again are only 12 miles wide created more than 200 earth masses of gold. 200 EARTH MASSES OF GOLD!!!! Now that's what we call a nugget!
Anyone know where we can get a cheap, used space ship?
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3 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Actually, I thought a supernova may generate and throw off more neutron rich elements than a kilonova including gold. The remnant of a supernova may be a neutron star but if a neutron star is made of neutrons, it cannot have a magnetic field. There are theories that there is a current of protons circulating around but there would have to be a current of electrons in opposite direction to àccount for the strong magnetic field. It is likely, that many electrons and protons combine to neutrons but neutrons are unlikely to contribute to the magnetic field. I suggest that the charge carrying particles may convert to an extrinsic circular current such that the intrinsic spin of the electrons and protons goes partially or completly lost.
Guido
Level 4
June 3, 2020
0
Very perceptive, starwatcher-al. Those text books were wrong in at least two ways:
- Neutron stars are a fiction of the taxpayer-supported gravity-only (big bang) crowd. In the laboratory neutrons decay in under fifteen minutes.
- The heavier elements are not created in supernovas. They are found in the very hot outer reaches of electric stars, including our sun.
Sources: www.thunderbolts.info and www.newtoeu.com
See "Electric Star Birth
Stephen Smith
May 8, 2020
yvilletom
Level 8
May 14, 2020
0
The only other question is how do transport the earth sized Golden Nugget back here lol
ScienceBill72
Level 7
May 13, 2020
0
Kinda defeats the purpose, don't you think? I mean, how precious would gold be if we had access to 200 Earth masses' worth?
@p-nullifidian ya pretty much, but also we can create synthetic gold if I'm not mistaken
@ScienceBill72 Yes, but even at $1,800 (or so) an ounce, it requires more resources (nuclear energy) than it would be worth.
@p-nullifidian Are you saying synthetic gold costs more to make than anyone will pay me to make it?
If so, I sure won’t make any..
@yvilletom Aww, I was just gearing up in my garage to run off a batch.
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