4 ms·
>"During such events, massive amounts of heavy metals are formed. This collision, for instance, produced a lump of gold with the mass of our planet in just a sp
by Tehchops 8y ago
>"During such events, massive amounts of heavy metals are formed. This collision, for instance, produced a lump of gold with the mass of our planet in just a split second."
We need to find a localized wormhole and go mine that.
- jajag 8y agoYeah and watch inflation sky-rocket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_revolution
- caprese 8y agoyeah but you still get to sell it even as your yields decrease death spirals are still profitable for the issuer
- sarcasmOrTears 8y agoLowering price of materials allow the creation of new and more goods, so it's always a good thing
- rev_null 8y agoHow is gold created out of the collision of stars composed of neutrons?
- adrianN 8y agoIf you smash proton and neutron clumps the size of stars together you get fragments that are gold-sized.
- thaumasiotes 8y agoThat makes a little more sense. The original quote suggests that a single very large lump of gold was created, not a very large number of separate gold atoms. This raises the question of why gold tends to be found near other gold on Earth.
- ohum 8y agoIs there an answer to that question? And, why is the distribution of matter not random? Maybe some sort of gravitational grouping? (eg earth's iron core, centrifugal enrichment of uranium). Or affinity for some orientation relative to field states, magnetism/diamagnetism etc.? Like attracts?
- CBLT 8y agoAs I understand it, the distribution was decided when the earth was still hot. So the mechanics you're interested in are those of high-temperature solutions containing liquid gold, which I don't understand that much. There's other interesting phenomena too, like gold frequently occurs in quartz rocks[0]. [0] https://www.quora.com/Why-is-gold-frequently-located-in-quartz-rock/answer/Gary-Clifton-1 https://www.quora.com/Why-is-gold-frequently-located-in-quar...
- adrianN 8y agoI'm not a geologist at all, but when you freeze soda you tend to get water ice infused with veins of high-sugar soda concentrate. I wouldn't be surprised if similar mechanisms tend to lump matter with similar melting points together in molten rock.
- has2k1 8y ago> This raises the question of why gold tends to be found near other gold on Earth. When you spin a combination of stuff that is "loose enough" at sufficient speeds, the centrifugal force acts on the constituent masses differently. As a result similar masses coalesce. This is the same principle used to separate and concentrate (enrich) all kinds of stuff in centrifuges.
- jhayward 8y agoDeep in the earth matter tends to clump together by density, just as oil separates from water due to density. There is still some dynamism though so temporary mixing does occur. Gold at earth's surface tends to be found in deposits where water with gold particles in it was flowing through a crack for an extended period of time. Over time some of the gold is deposited on the sides of the crack, essentially concentrating it through evaporation and deposition. These cracks then become what miners call 'veins'. Other metals and minerals have similar stories. TLDR: water from deep in the earth carries gold particles upward. Cracks form consistent flows which concentrate deposits over time.
- Tehchops 8y ago>How is gold created out of the collision of stars composed of neutrons? They are composed predominantly out of neutrons. Some percentage of their composition is still electrons and assorted atomic nuclei, which is a non-trivial amount of matter considering the common range of density they tend to have. I would imagine all kinds of interesting(strange?) interactions take place when such dense and energetic objects collide.
- dredmorbius 8y agoNeutronium (degenerate neutron fluid) is only stable at immense pressure. Relieve that pressure -- by flinging bits into space in a collision or explosion -- and it reverts to neutrons + protons + electrons + antineutrinos, forming first ultramassive nuclei, which rapidly decay to stable elements, many being heavy elements well above iron in atomic number. The nuclei mar be formed by r-capture (rapid capture), or perhaps devolve from dense neutronium clumps. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04807 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04807 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutronium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutronium