TRANSCRIPT
That ring in your finger fabricated from platinum or gold accommodates a secret that has been on the heart of a cosmic thriller.
Scientists have been combing the galaxy to determine the place these so-called “heavy components” come from.
Lighter components—the whole lot from helium, with its two protons per atom, on as much as iron, which has 26 protons in every nucleus—are higher understood.
Most of those type inside stars. However our data will get fuzzy after iron.
Gold, which has 79 protons in every atom, can’t be made that approach. The identical goes for platinum, xenon, radon and lots of uncommon Earth components.
For many years scientists theorized the place these “heavy metals” got here from and the way they arrived on Earth. The main concept was an especially violent cosmic occasion—a collision between two neutron stars.
Till just lately this was only a idea—however that modified a couple of years in the past, when scientists detected gravitational waves from such a crash—and noticed gentle on the identical time.
This gentle held the chemical signatures of those heavy components—providing the primary proof supporting the speculation of the place they got here from. It additionally helped scientists fill in a few of the particulars of how this course of would possibly work.
Neutron stars are the densest issues within the universe apart from black holes. They’re born when heavy stars die and their cores collapse. The unbelievable gravitational strain squishes the atoms collectively, protons and electrons smush, all leaving a star virtually completely fabricated from neutrons.
Within the uncommon case when two neutron stars slam collectively—the explosion creates mind-blowing temperatures and pressures.
It additionally pumps out lots of free neutrons—as much as a gram of neutrons spills into each cubic centimeter of house.
These uncommon situations ignite what’s known as the speedy neutron-capture course of, in any other case generally known as “R-process” for brief.
All of it begins with a seed nucleus, comparable to iron. The iron nucleus begins out with 26 protons and round 30 neutrons.
However through the R-process, it can shortly seize many extra neutrons in a matter of milliseconds. The brand new nucleus is very unstable due to its lopsided amount of neutrons, so a few of the neutrons will decay into protons.
The results of this extraordinarily quick, complicated course of is a brand new type of matter.
Simply suppose, that piece of gold in your finger—each little bit of it began off in a cosmic cataclysm that’s among the many most violent and highly effective forces within the universe.
A cosmic thriller on the way in which to being solved, and a chunk of the universe, all within the palm of your hand.
