Posted on September 5th, 2009 by admin

A couple questions about gold?

Category: Other - Science, Tags: , ,

dt asked:


From my understanding diamonds come from under volcano rubble and pearls come from pressurized sand in clams.

Is gold made somehow or does it just exist like rock. From my understanding we get it out of mountains often deep within. So is it from the mixing of some minerals and pressure or is it just there?

It seems weird to me that gold comes from streams as well. Is this because gold is often in particles and it is easier to get when it is loose in water? I mean do the streams run from within the mountains or just over them because it would seem weird if gold came from the outer surface of mountains.
same questions for silver.

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2 Responses to “A couple questions about gold?”

Mr D on September 5th, 2009 10:25 pm:

Gold is a non-reactive metal. It is not recreated, it just occurs naturally in trace amount in rocks and sometimes solid gold nuggets.

James B on September 8th, 2009 9:14 pm:

Gold has always existed on Earth… as many of the heavy elements formed from supernovae do.

As it is nonreactive, it rarely forms an ore like aluminium or iron (however sometimes it can rarely form alloys with silver, copper and lead).

It can be found within rocks, and is found in streams due to erosion of the rocks by natural process.

Diamonds and pearls are not metals, and are therefore formed differently. Diamonds are pressurized/heated carbon, and pearls are formed from calcium carbonate.