Stupid question for today: Is all gold really THAT old?

[Chuck Bao]

I was just watching a Discovery channel program about the early universe. They were saying that iron was one of the earlier heavy elements created. And, iron doesn’t fuse even under intense heat and pressure in the center of those early gigantic stars. When those stars eventually went super nova, the intense blast turned the iron into even heavier elements, such as lead and gold.

They said that if you have a gold ring, you should fully appreciate it for the fact that it was created by a massive star explosion billions of years ago and I guess in our case that would be at least about 5 billion years. Now, talking about a heirloom.

I have heard that we are all essentially just made out of star dust, God willing of course. So my stupid question for today is if any of that is correct. Is all gold really that old? It kinda makes diamonds seem like mere babies.

[yermom]

you can create diamonds, gold not so much

[OklaPony]

Yup.... that thar gold is a bunch of dust from the heavens.

[GottaHavePride]

Gold is a unique element. We can't synthesize most elements - to change one into another you're talking either nuclear fission or fusion. We can only manage fusion with light elements (like hydrogen) and fission with extremely heavy, unstable elements (like uranium).

Diamond is just a particular crystalline form of carbon. Carbon's all over the place - just needs heat and pressure to form the crystal matrix. Mess it up and you have graphite. ;)

[Crucifax Autumn]

There ARE always dooshbags on tv trying to buy my "old gold".

[Fraggle145]

Actually most humans these days (especially in North America) are made up of corn. At least that's what our isotopic signature says...

[Chuck Bao]

Actually most humans these days (especially in North America) are made up of corn. At least that's what our isotopic signature says...

Now, that is really interesting. Heh! Children of the Corn.

I suppose that I have a little bit of rice mixed in there.

[NormanPride]

I'm made of OU football. That I know.

And yeah, all the heavier elements are made in supernovas and stuff. The amount of pressure and heat and energy released is mind bottling.

[Oldnslo]

short answer, Chuck: Yup.

the alchemists couldn't get that one atom to change.

[Frozen Sooner]

Now, that is really interesting. Heh! Children of the Corn.

I suppose that I have a little bit of rice mixed in there.

Got a little rice in you?

No?

Then Nope needs to do a better job.

(I'm going to Hell)

[Ike]

I was just watching a Discovery channel program about the early universe. They were saying that iron was one of the earlier heavy elements created. And, iron doesn’t fuse even under intense heat and pressure in the center of those early gigantic stars. When those stars eventually went super nova, the intense blast turned the iron into even heavier elements, such as lead and gold.

They said that if you have a gold ring, you should fully appreciate it for the fact that it was created by a massive star explosion billions of years ago and I guess in our case that would be at least about 5 billion years. Now, talking about a heirloom.

I have heard that we are all essentially just made out of star dust, God willing of course. So my stupid question for today is if any of that is correct. Is all gold really that old? It kinda makes diamonds seem like mere babies.

Yup. But why focus on just gold? The same goes for copper, silver, and any other heavy metal.

But why stop there? According to the most widely accepted theories on the formation of our sun and solar system, Our entire solar system formed out of a very large cloud of gas and dust that were leftovers from the explosions of earlier generation stars. Everything on this planet, including you and I, are in many ways, remnants of supernovae that occurred more than 5 billion years ago.

[Frozen Sooner]

You calling my grandma a supernova?