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The ultra-violent origins of gold
- nefitty 11y agoWell, if you got baited by expectations of a historical-anthropological account of gold, this ain't it.
- agumonkey 11y agoI totally was, being fascinated by the social aspects of metals, I couldn't resist. But a good physics story is still ... wait for it .. gold.
- sgt101 11y agoThe physics is amazing, the idea astounding. But given the history of the universe isn't this just wildly improbable as a story? I mean, 12bn years is very long, but is it enough time for neutron stars colliding to make my wedding ring?
- rosser 11y agoThe article doesn't go so far as to say so explicitly, but it implies we're seeing spectra of gold, platinum, and uranium, among others, in gamma ray bursts. If that's the case, I don't think the a priori improbability of the story much matters.
- sohkamyung 11y agoThe story is correct. It was also covered by Ethan Siegel in Starts With A Bang! on Medium [1]. You may also find this incredible. Boron, an element vital for life on Earth, was mostly created by cosmic rays colliding with heavier atoms, not created in stars. [2] [1] https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/striking-cosmic-gold-1dff9b27d587#.46jx7bvre https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/striking-cosmic-gold-1... [2] https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/the-3-most-surprising-elements-2cc35e9be27e#.4563qt6au https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/the-3-most-surprising-...