World's Largest Gold Crystal Found

Live Science ^ | 4/9/ 2014 | Marc Lallanilla

[BuckeyeTexan]

It's the size of a golf ball, but a lot more valuable: Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory's Lujan Neutron Scattering Center have verified that a heavy piece of gold, found years ago in Venezuela, is, in fact, a single crystal of the valuable element — and it's worth an estimated $1.5 million.

The lump of gold, which weighs 217.78 grams (about 7.7 ounces), was brought to Los Alamos to confirm whether it was a single crystal of gold, or a more common multiple-crystal structure. "The structure or atomic arrangement of gold crystals of this size has never been studied before, and we have a unique opportunity to do so," Miami University geologist John Rakovan said in a statement.

[Steely Tom]

When my wife was in graduate school, she told me about a semi-funny incident in which another grad student had taken a very expensive single-crystal chunk of gold and, to make it fit in a sample holder, chucked it in a lathe and turned it down to size.

As soon as the chucks jaws bit into the golden crystal... it was no longer a crystal.

[Tijeras_Slim]

[Rusty0604]

And Maduro wants it back!

[C210N]

Nice gold plating on that thar' tungsten...

[Nifster]

grad students.... always thinking but not always clearly