Gold Synthesis in Supernovae: What Form Does It Take and Under What Conditions?

[tionis]

Do we know a what stage of a supernova gold is synthesized? And when the gold is ejected, are we talking about pebble size chunks of gold or mostly dust that later coalesce?

 

[jedishrfu]

Actually the current thought is that it comes from a collision of neutron stars:

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-earth-gold-colliding-dead-stars.html

As far as how it appears is not known.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

Aww, ain't that romantic- the primary constituent of most wedding rings resulted from the embrace of two neutron stars! With these neutron stars, I thee wed...

 

[Bandersnatch]

Aww, ain't that romantic- the primary constituent of most wedding rings resulted from the embrace of two neutron stars! With these neutron stars, I thee wed...

The two decide to come together, and in the wake of this event their lives are violently destroyed, spraying everybody around with radioactive remains of their marriage, that also happen to include some money - buried in heaps of molten lead and poisonous mercury.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

The two decide to come together, and in the wake of this event their lives are violently destroyed, spraying everybody around with radioactive remains of their marriage, that also happen to include some money - buried in heaps of molten lead and poisonous mercury.

 

[jedishrfu]

The two decide to come together, and in the wake of this event their lives are violently destroyed, spraying everybody around with radioactive remains of their marriage, that also happen to include some money - buried in heaps of molten lead and poisonous mercury.

Its Homeric...

 

[ShayanJ]

Aww, ain't that romantic- the primary constituent of most wedding rings resulted from the embrace of two neutron stars! With these neutron stars, I thee wed...

 

[|Glitch|]

Do we know a what stage of a supernova gold is synthesized? And when the gold is ejected, are we talking about pebble size chunks of gold or mostly dust that later coalesce?

During a core-collapse supernova what remains of the stellar core collapses to either a neutron star or a black hole, depending on its mass. The subatomic particles that made up the core are crushed together forming neutrons and neutrinos. The neutrinos rush out from the center of the collapsing core and push the in-falling layers of the star back out into space. This neutrino "bounce" produces a shock wave that contains enough energy to produce the heavier elements such as silver, lead, gold, platinum, and uranium. This whole process takes less than 3 seconds. Light is emitted as a result of the expanding shock wave crashing into gas and dust on its way out of the supernova. Gold starts out as a gas, and quickly cools to form dust, which then coalesces into larger objects. If you heat gold beyond its boiling point - 2,856°C (5,173°F) - you can create gold gas.

Source:
A Chandra X-ray Survey of Ejecta in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant - arXiv 1111.7316

 

[Bystander]

beyond its boiling point - 2,856°C (5,173°F) - you can create gold gas.

... at one atmosphere pressure; lower pressures mean lower temperatures, and in the "vacuum" of outer space it's possible to have single atoms/ions of gold at CMB temperatures.