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The True Origins of Gold in Our Universe May Have Just Changed, Again
Science Alert ^ | 15 Sep, 2020 | MICHELLE STARR

Posted on 09/16/2020 2:19:00 PM PDT by MtnClimber

When humanity finally detected the collision between two neutron stars in 2017, we confirmed a long-held theory - in the energetic fires of these incredible explosions, elements heavier than iron are forged.

And so, we thought we had an answer to the question of how these elements - including gold - propagated throughout the Universe.

But a new analysis has revealed a problem. According to new galactic chemical evolution models, neutron star collisions don't even come close to producing the abundances of heavy elements found in the Milky Way galaxy today.

"Neutron star mergers did not produce enough heavy elements in the early life of the Universe, and they still don't now, 14 billion years later," said astrophysicist Amanda Karakas of Monash University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) in Australia.

"The Universe didn't make them fast enough to account for their presence in very ancient stars, and, overall, there are simply not enough collisions going on to account for the abundance of these elements around today."

SNIP

"We can think of stars as giant pressure cookers where new elements are created," Karakas said. "The reactions that make these elements also provide the energy that keeps stars shining bright for billions of years. As stars age, they produce heavier and heavier elements as their insides heat up."

To create elements heavier than iron - such as gold, silver, thorium and uranium - the rapid neutron-capture process, or r-process, is required. This can take place in really energetic explosions, which generate a series of nuclear reactions in which atomic nuclei collide with neutrons to synthesise elements heavier than iron.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: amandakarakas; astronomy; chemistry; chiakikobayashi; danfogelberg; fauxiantroll; fauxiantrolls; gold; heavymetals; monashuniversity; neutronstar; neutronstars; preciousmetals; science; steadystate; stringtheory; supernova; supernovae; uranium
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To: MtnClimber

21 posted on 09/16/2020 2:59:27 PM PDT by Intar
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To: Cold Heart

BINGO!!

BTW, how do you know it must be a “good” jewelry store?


22 posted on 09/16/2020 3:02:53 PM PDT by Darteaus94025 (Can't have a Liberal without a Lie)
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To: Seruzawa

Science takes a looong time between discoveries. If we shunned science it would take even looonger for new discoveries to happen. The meantime between advances should be to prove/disprove theories as this act begets new discoveries.


23 posted on 09/16/2020 3:03:23 PM PDT by Intar
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To: null and void

The DhimmicRATic Party is full of Borons - boring and moronic.


24 posted on 09/16/2020 3:04:12 PM PDT by Darteaus94025 (Can't have a Liberal without a Lie)
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To: Intar

I’m not talking about shunning science, but putting some brakes on the billions thrown away.


25 posted on 09/16/2020 3:05:15 PM PDT by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL!)
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To: null and void
Where to Beryllium and boron come from?

Collisions between heavier elements and cosmic rays that split the heavier element into two lighter elements through fission. Cosmic rays themselves are the nucleus of various elements ejected during supernova star explosions with many travelling close to the speed of light. So it is really one speeding nucleus hitting another element that could be in dust or even another free nucleus.

26 posted on 09/16/2020 3:05:23 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber
Normal fusion in stars can produce elements up to iron.

Current theory is heavier elements than iron are produced at the instant before the formation of a black hole in a supermassive star. Most of the heavier elements fall into the black hole, with a small percentage ejected via the relativistic jet that forms inside the core and bursts out of the out layers of the star's poles and out into space, forming a hypernova.

27 posted on 09/16/2020 3:06:18 PM PDT by Intar
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To: CincyRichieRich

To a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills under somebody else’s name. Parked with all the CA stuff.


28 posted on 09/16/2020 3:07:59 PM PDT by wally_bert (Transmission tone, Selm)
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To: Intar

I would not want to be the one to observe it happening to prove the theory!


29 posted on 09/16/2020 3:08:10 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: rightwingcrazy

The rest he wasted.


30 posted on 09/16/2020 3:08:53 PM PDT by wally_bert (Transmission tone, Selm)
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To: rightwingcrazy

The rest he wasted.


31 posted on 09/16/2020 3:08:54 PM PDT by wally_bert (Transmission tone, Selm)
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To: MtnClimber

If the force of an explosion creates elements, shouldn’t the Big Bang have just produced gold?


32 posted on 09/16/2020 3:09:27 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is thp at they are both death cults.)
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To: Spirit of Liberty

Cybermen.


33 posted on 09/16/2020 3:09:49 PM PDT by wally_bert (Transmission tone, Selm)
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To: Darteaus94025

I may have heard that but forgot.

How do you tell a good jewelry store?


34 posted on 09/16/2020 3:10:16 PM PDT by Cold Heart (Legalize Hydroxychloroquine)
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To: Jonty30
If the force of an explosion creates elements, shouldn’t the Big Bang have just produced gold?

Current theory is that the big bang only produced Hydrogen atoms. Heavier elements could only form inside the cores of Hydrogen rich stars.

35 posted on 09/16/2020 3:11:27 PM PDT by Intar
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To: Cold Heart
Hold up a jewelry store?

No need to break the law, now.

Just peacefully protest it. As long as 93% of the time you are not breaking the glass and reaching in and grabbing, you're good to go.

36 posted on 09/16/2020 3:14:06 PM PDT by C210N
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To: Intar

Oh, and the explosion of a supernova produces nothing; the pressure of gravity against the core of a start is enough to cause lighter atoms to fuse into heavier atoms, thus hydrogen becoming helium, and so on. The nova occurs when the core can no longer fuse beyond iron, causing the explosive forces of the fusion process (heat and radiation) to overcome the gravity and blow away the layers above the core. Fusion is already over when this occurs.


37 posted on 09/16/2020 3:14:27 PM PDT by Intar
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To: Jonty30

The big bang is a theory. There is the background electromagnetic noise and observable expansion, but supporting evidence does not equal proof.


38 posted on 09/16/2020 3:14:51 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

More unsettled science?


39 posted on 09/16/2020 3:17:43 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: MtnClimber
The big bang is a theory.

And right you are! There are other theories such as the one that says the Universe has no beginning or end, or M Theory (String Theory) that says perturbations of the megaverse causes new universes to explode into existence and fizzle out like fireworks. We really have no idea how the universe works; we're like infants trying to explain our own existence with toys as our only tools. Our only real tool is mathematics, which explain quite a bit, but not enough to unify the five fundamental forces into a theory of everything, which is where the craziness of our understanding comes from.

40 posted on 09/16/2020 3:20:18 PM PDT by Intar
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