Previously, it was believed that scientists know almost everything about gold. However, researchers were able to create a new type of this expensive metal. For his experiment, it was required to create excessive pressure, which affected the properties and structure of gold.
American scientists have found that gold can change its structure and even its properties if high pressure is applied to it sharply. This will lead to the fact that its structure turns into an open crystalline.
During this study, gold was exposed to extreme pressure equal to 2/3 of the pressure at the center of the Earth. Changes in the structure of gold were noted at a pressure of 220 GPa, that is, a pressure that exceeds the atmospheric pressure of our planet by 2.2 million times. The decisive moment in this experiment was the impact on gold for a split second.
When compressed to 250 GPa, gold began to melt. The maximum pressure that was exerted on gold during the experiment was 330 GPa. The researchers said that the discovery is of particular importance, as no one has previously studied the properties of gold in such extreme conditions.
Andrey Vetrov