Prospecting Earth, or Nutron Stars?

[CApicker]

What you have in that pan is very very rare. Not just here on Earth but in the Universe as a whole. Most all heavy metals and rocks are formed when a star explodes and atomic reactions create them, but NOT Gold!
To create elements heavier than iron, like gold and silver, requires the most destructive forces known in our universe... That's right Gold is only formed during a Supernova!

Our Earth is the by-product of a star that went supernova about 4.5 billion years ago and during that supernova, our Earth collected some rare formations of Gold atoms. Not every star goes supernova when it burns out. In fact 97% of stars never explode which makes a supernova and the chances of gold atoms forming in the universe that much rarer.

Most of that Gold is hanging out in our Earth's core and not accessible by any mining techniques known to man yet. So most of what you have in your pan is actually from a large asteroid that hit the Earth 2 billion years ago.

This crater (the largest on Earth) may be the big contributor - Vredefort in South Africa.


So next time you roll that black sand star dust around the pan and see that Gold , think about that Supernova 4.5 Billion years ago that left you a very rare gift indeed...

We are all prospectors of the Stars!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Cry Of The Eagle: History And Legends Of The Cherokee Indians And Their Buried Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[gold hound]

I've read that the collision of two neutron stars emit gold and other heavy metals during the initial gamma ray bursts. If the production of iron stops the entire nuclear chain reaction caused by the dying star causing it to go supernova why would any metal on the periodical chart heavier than iron be produced?

 

[gold hound]

From my understanding once the star reaches critical mass( Chandrasekhar mass) the heat created from the sun can't escape fast enough. Causing induction currents back to the stars core. Instead of the star operating via nuclear fission(the division of atomic particles) the excess heat causes nuclear fusion.(creation of more dense heavier particles) the whole process creates creates all the elements in order of the periodical chart from lightest to heaviest until it reaches iron. Iron CAN NOT undergo nuclear fusion so with the chain reaction stopped the mass of the stars gravity draws the stars mass inward on itself. The stars once it reaches its core explodes or goes supernova