homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Gold doesn't fall out of the sky - but it's created in the heavens

Research based on recent observations of a nearby gamma-ray burst, GRB 130603B, help explain how gold, silver and other heavy metal atoms are created.

Alexandru Micu
June 18, 2015 @ 10:22 am

share Share

For thousands of years gold has been the embodiment of wealth. Its chemical stability and scarcity make it ideal for coinage. In the USA, the link between gold and currency has only been weakened in 1933 when the gold standard fell out of use, and was fully separated from the dollar in 1971. While currently no country uses the gold standard any longer, money deriving its value from government regulation or law  (called fiat currency), for much of human history gold has been the basis of most economic structures: everything had a corresponding value relative to the metal.

It is found in economy as a carrier of value, in art as a symbol of grandeur and in social interactions as a sign of high status. Religions across the globe reinforce this key place for gold, using it either literally – in contexts linked with divinity – or metaphorically, as mark of purity. But for the central role it played in human society, we know surprisingly little about how gold came into being. Research by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) may help us better understand the processes which create this soft, shiny and precious metal.

Gold rules the world. Powerful dark magic helps too.
Image credit to vincentxyooj, via: deviantart.com

While we’ve previously wrote on the importance and creation of gold here, research based on recent observations of a nearby gamma-ray burst, GRB 130603B, helps to explain how gold and silver atoms are created.

These bursts are flashes of high-energy light (gamma rays), associated with explosions. Researchers believe that the immense energy released in the GRB 130603B event resulted from the collision of two neutron stars–deceased cores of stars that have exhausted their fuel and exploded. Gamma-ray bursts come in two varieties – long and short – depending on how long the flash of gamma rays lasts. GRB 130603B, detected by NASA’s Swift satellite on June 3rd, lasted for less than two-tenths of a second, followed by a glow dominated by infrared light that radiated from the area for several days after the explosion, exhibiting unusual behavior.

Its brightness and behavior didn’t match a typical ‘afterglow,’ which is created when a high-speed jet of particles slams into the surrounding environment. Instead, the glow behaved like it came from exotic radioactive elements. The neutron-rich material ejected by colliding neutron stars can generate such elements, which then undergo radioactive decay, emitting a glow that’s dominated by infrared light – exactly what the team observed.

“We’ve been looking for a ‘smoking gun’ to link a short gamma-ray burst with a neutron star collision. The radioactive glow from GRB 130603B may be that smoking gun,” explains Wen-fai Fong, a graduate student at the CfA and a co-author of the paper.

In this high-energy event, two neutron stars collide. Scientists believe the glowing aftermath is the origin of elements such as gold. Image via: popsci.com

In this high-energy event, two neutron stars collide. Scientists believe the glowing aftermath is the origin of elements such as gold.
Image via: popsci.com

The team believes that significant quantities of gold and other heavy elements were created and released in that area during the collision.

“We estimate that the amount of gold produced and ejected during the merger of the two neutron stars may be as large as 10 moon masses–quite a lot of bling!” lead author Edo Berger said in a statement.

“To paraphrase Carl Sagan, we are all star stuff, and our jewelry is colliding-star stuff,” says Berger.

As gamma-ray burst events are quite frequent, Berger and his colleagues hypothesize that all the gold in our universe could have been created this way.

The team’s results have been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and are available online. Berger’s co-authors are Wen-fai Fong and Ryan Chornock, both of the CfA.

share Share

A Brain Implant Just Turned a Woman’s Thoughts Into Speech in Near Real Time

This tech restores speech in real time for people who can’t talk, using only brain signals.

Using screens in bed increases insomnia risk by 59% — but social media isn’t the worst offender

Forget blue light, the real reason screens disrupt sleep may be simpler than experts thought.

Beetles Conquered Earth by Evolving a Tiny Chemical Factory

There are around 66,000 species of rove beetles and one researcher proposes it's because of one special gland.

We Should Start Worrying About Space Piracy. Here's Why This Could be A Big Deal

“We are arguing that it’s already started," say experts.

An Experimental Drug Just Slashed Genetic Heart Risk by 94%

One in 10 people carry this genetic heart risk. There's never been a treatment — until now.

We’re Getting Very Close to a Birth Control Pill for Men

Scientists may have just cracked the code for male birth control.

A New Antibiotic Was Hiding in Backyard Dirt and It Might Save Millions

A new antibiotic works when others fail.

Researchers Wake Up Algae That Went Dormant Before the First Pyramids

Scientists have revived 7,000-year-old algae from Baltic Sea sediments, pushing the limits of resurrection ecology.

A Fossil So Strange Scientists Think It’s From a Completely New Form of Life

This towering mystery fossil baffled scientists for 180 Years and it just got weirder.

ChatGPT Seems To Be Shifting to the Right. What Does That Even Mean?

ChatGPT doesn't have any political agenda but some unknown factor is causing a subtle shift in its responses.