Did gold come from space?

Did you know that gold is extraterrestrial? Instead of arising from our planet's rocky crust, it was actually cooked up in space and is present on Earth because of cataclysmic stellar explosions called supernovae. CERN Scientist David Lunney outlines the incredible journey of gold from space to Earth.
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Where did gold originally come from?

All of the gold found on Earth came from the debris of dead stars. As the Earth formed, heavy elements such as iron and gold sank toward the planet's core. If no other event had occurred, there would be no gold in the Earth's crust. But, around 4 billion years ago, Earth was bombarded by asteroid impacts.
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Is gold Originally from space?

The Extraterrestrial Element

Unlike other metals that form in the Earth's crust, gold comes from space. Stars are made mostly of helium and hydrogen, which provide light. Inside the star's core, nuclear fusion churns out energy.
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Is gold natural to Earth?

On Earth, gold is found in ores in rock formed from the Precambrian time onward. It most often occurs as a native metal, typically in a metal solid solution with silver (i.e. as a gold/silver alloy).
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How was gold formed in space?

Two neutron stars collide somewhere in the depths of space in this artist's concept. In addition to generating gravitational waves, such an event can produce many heavy elements, including gold. In a remote galaxy, two neutron stars circled one another in a ballet of ultimate destruction and inevitable creation.
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Did asteroids create gold?

Gold is found in rock ores that date back to the Precambrian era, which is 4.6 billion to 541 million years ago. It was a period when asteroids bombarded Earth. Upon impact, these asteroids deposited high concentrations of gold deep into the crust.
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Can we create gold?

Yes, gold can be created from other elements. But the process requires nuclear reactions, and is so expensive that you currently cannot make money by selling the gold that you create from other elements.
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Is there gold on the moon?

Digging a little deeper than the Moon's crust, scientists have discovered that the Moon does indeed have a number of precious metals such as gold and silver.
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Does gold grow?

HAMISH ROBERTSON: As our political and corporate leaders are fond of reminding us, money doesn't grow on trees, but now scientific researchers are claiming that gold nuggets might grow in the ground, a bit like potatoes.
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Where is gold found on Earth?

Gold is usually found embedded in quartz veins, or placer stream gravel. It is mined in South Africa, the USA (Nevada, Alaska), Russia, Australia and Canada.
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Do other planets have gold?

Unlike most rocky, icy asteroids, the Psyche asteroid—located between Mars and Jupiter—contains a motherlode of metal, including gold, iron, and nickel.
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Is gold rare in the universe?

Gold is rare throughout the Universe because it's a relatively hefty atom, consisting of 79 protons and 118 neutrons. That makes it hard to produce, even in the incredible heat and pressure of the 'chemical forges' of supernovae, the deaths of giant stars responsible for creating most chemical elements.
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Did diamonds come from space?

National Science Foundation - Where Discoveries Begin

If indeed "a diamond is forever," the most primitive origins of Earth's so-called black diamonds were in deep, universal time, geologists have discovered. Black diamonds came from none other than interstellar space.
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How much gold is in the Earth's core?

Wood has calculated that 1.6 quadrillion tons of gold must lie in Earth's core. This may sound like a lot, but it is really only a tiny percentage of the core's overall mass—about one part per million. The core holds six times as much platinum, Wood notes, "but people get less excited about that than gold."
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Does silver come from space?

The researchers concluded that silver production occurs in less massive stars than those that produce gold—and through an entirely different type of nuclear fusion, called the weak r-process.
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How much gold is there on Earth?

About 244,000 metric tons of gold has been discovered to date (187,000 metric tons historically produced plus current underground reserves of 57,000 metric tons). Most of that gold has come from just three countries: China, Australia, and South Africa.
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What plant has gold?

There's gold in them thar trees. Eucalyptus trees, that is. Australian researchers have found that microscopic gold particles from underground ore deposits are present in tree leaves. Eucalyptus tree roots can delve more than 130 feet (40 meters) deep underground in a thirsty search for water.
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Can we run out of gold?

Based on known reserves, estimates suggest that gold mining could reach the point of being economically unsustainable by 2050, though new vein discoveries will likely push that date back somewhat.
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Can gold grow on trees?

Money may not grow on trees, but gold does—or at least it accumulates inside of them. Scientists have found that trees growing over deeply buried deposits of gold ore sport leaves with higher-than-normal concentrations of the glittering element.
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Does sun have gold?

Careful analysis of the Sun's spectrum shows that about 6 ten-billionths (0.0000000006) of the mass of the Sun consists of atoms of gold. Doesn't sound like much does it? But, because the Sun is so huge, this is a lot of gold!
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Is there gold in the ocean?

One study found there is only about one gram of gold for every 100 million metric tons of ocean water in the Atlantic and north Pacific. There is also (undissolved) gold in/on the seafloor. The ocean, however, is deep, meaning that gold deposits are a mile or two underwater.
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Does Mars have gold?

In addition, lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, niobium, molybdenum, lanthanum, europium, tungsten, and gold have been found in trace amounts.
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Can gold be destroyed?

Gold does not corrode or rust, and it cannot be destroyed by fire. This explains why gold is melted, re-melted, and reused many times. Gold can only be destroyed through nuclear reactions, but you can dissolve it using aqua regia, which is a mixture of concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids.
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Who turned lead into gold?

The alchemists used chemical methods to try to make gold from lead. They were searching for the Philosopher's Stone – that “magic” stuff – to make valuable gold from a much more abundant (and less useful) metal, lead.
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Is gold Natural?

On earth, gold is one of the most valuable precious metals and rarest natural minerals. It is also one of the 118 elements so far discovered and classified by humans. Pure gold is a bright warm yellow, malleable and soft substance.
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