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How to melt gold at room temperature
Meghan Brown published on November 29, 2018 |
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Ludvig de Knoop, Chalmers Department of Physics, placed a small piece of gold in an electron microscope. By observing him at the highest magnification and gradually increasing the electric field to extremely high levels, he was interested to see how he was affecting the atoms of gold.
That's when he studied atoms in microscope recordings that he saw something exciting. The superficial layers of gold had actually melted – at room temperature.
"I was really surprised by this discovery, it is an extraordinary phenomenon that gives us new fundamental knowledge about gold," said Ludvig de Knoop.
What has happened is that the gold atoms have become excited. Under the influence of the electric field, they suddenly lost their orderly structure and released almost all their connections to each other.
After a new experiment, the researchers discovered that it was also possible to switch between a solid structure and a molten structure.
The discovery of how gold atoms can lose their structure in this way is not only spectacular, but also scientifically groundbreaking. In collaboration with the theoretician Mikael Juhani Kuisma of the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, Ludvig de Knoop and his colleagues have opened new avenues in materials science. The results are now published in the journal Physical Review Materials.
Through theoretical calculations, researchers are able to suggest why gold can melt at room temperature, which is due to the formation of defects in the surface layers.
The illustration shows the atoms of a gold cone exposed to a strong electric field. (Credit: Chalmers University of Technology / Alexander Ericson)
Surface melting can also be considered as a so-called small phase transition. In this case, the discovery is related to the field of topology research, where pioneers David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2016. Under the direction of Mikael Juhani Kuisma, researchers are now studying this possibility . In any case, the possibility of melting the superficial layers of gold in this way allows various innovative practical applications in the future.
"Because we can control and modify the properties of the surface layer of atoms, this opens doors for different types of applications, for example the technology could be used in different types of sensors, catalysts and transistors. could also be offered for contactless components, "says Eva Olsson, a professor in the Chalmers Department of Physics.
But for now, for those who want to melt gold without an electron microscope, a trip to the goldsmith is always in order.
Source: Chalmers University of Technology
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