Scientists Identify Atomic Trick That Keeps Gold Shiny
Scientists have discovered how gold retains its shine and resists tarnishing. The study reveals that gold's surface atoms rearrange into patterns that significantly reduce reactions with oxygen. This understanding could lead to advancements in chemical research and applications involving gold catalysts.
- ▪Gold's surface atoms form distinct patterns that suppress oxygen reactions by a factor of a billion to a trillion.
- ▪The study used computer simulations to analyze how gold's surface behaves when exposed to oxygen.
- ▪Gold's natural resistance to oxidation is beneficial for jewelry but can limit its effectiveness in chemical manufacturing.
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If you own gold jewelry, you might notice that it doesn’t tarnish as easily as other materials, like silver. For a long time, scientists understood that this was because gold doesn’t interact strongly with oxygen, although the exact physical mechanisms behind this property weren’t as well understood.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"92b7b46b-43ed-4e0e-b21b-2c999302d9d7","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.gizmodo.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"2000761911","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"science","SECTION":"physics","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"physics","TAGS":"chemistry,gold","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); But a new discovery, published today in Physical Review Letters, finally identifies how gold retains…
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