How Kilonovas Create Precious Metals like Gold, platinum, and uranium

SPACE — There are many precious metals in the world. Call it gold, silver, and platinum. These metals are buried in the ground. To get a large amount must be done by mining. However, how did these metals form and get into the ground?

According to one commonly held astronomical theory, these metals came from a deep explosion in outer space. The explosion is called a kilonova.

Reported from SlashGear, a kilonova is a type of explosion that is smaller than a supernova, but still epic in scale. A kilonova occurs when two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole collide.

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Neutron stars are similar to black holes in that they are very dense cores of dead stars. However, neutron stars are not as dense as black holes.

When two black holes collide it can create a very powerful explosion. The explosions create ripples in space-time called gravitational waves and can send out huge bursts of light.

Meanwhile, when an explosion occurs between a less dense neutron star and a black hole, the resulting explosion is called a kilonova. These explosions emit bursts of gamma rays and emit light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

The brightness of a kilonova is between 1 percent and 10 percent of that of a supernova. The kilonova isn’t the brightest event in the sky, but it’s still bright enough to be seen from a long distance.

Astronomers are interested in studying it to learn how solid objects combine and what the effects of these massive collisions are.

How does kilonova produce gold?

The power of the kilonova explosion creates heavy elements due to a process called neutron capture. This is a type of nuclear reaction in which the nucleus sucks in nearby neutrons and then gives off gamma rays.

These events require extreme conditions, such as those found in kilonovas, which form heavy elements and then blast them out. Kilonova sends the elements racing fast into space, where they can combine together with clouds of dust and gas to form the building blocks of new planets.

In 2019, researchers identified specific events that they believe gave rise to heavy elements such as gold, platinum and uranium on Earth.

Two neutron stars collided 4.6 billion years ago somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy close to where our solar system formed, about 1,000 light years away. Earth itself formed some 100 million years later, combining the heavy elements sent into space by this collision.

These elements continue to exist on Earth today, making up about 0.3 percent of the heaviest elements found on Earth.

“This means that within each of us, we will find these elements, mostly in the form of iodine, which are essential for life,” said lead author of the study, Imre Bartos of Columbia University, in research published in Nature.

Some researchers even believe that all the gold and platinum found on Earth was created by kilonovas, although this is more difficult to prove.