Can our sun produce gold?
Natural Gold Formation
While nuclear fusion within the Sun makes many elements, the Sun cannot synthesize gold. The considerable energy required to make gold only occurs when stars explode in a supernova or when neutron stars collide.
The mass of the sun is 1.989 Ă— 1030 kg. Abundance in the Sun of the elements gives a percentage 1 Ă— 10-7 % for gold *, so that leaves you with a mass of 1.989 Ă— 1021 kg of gold.
Their research concluded that spinning supernovae are most likely to be responsible for creating the abundance very heavy elements such as gold in the cosmos, rather than neutron star collisions as previously believed.
Gold is rare throughout the Universe because it's a relatively hefty atom, consisting of 79 protons and 118 neutrons. That makes it hard to produce, even in the incredible heat and pressure of the 'chemical forges' of supernovae, the deaths of giant stars responsible for creating most chemical elements.
Gold isn't actually formed per se. On Earth, gold exists as it is, deep in the earth, though the form it takes (solid, or molten) may differ. There are no naturally occurring processes that produce new gold… on Earth. The process by which gold is created takes place amongst the stars!
Although gold deposits continue to form in active volcanic areas, greenstone belts and their gold deposits no longer form on Earth today. Examples include parts of Canada, Zimbabwe and Australia. 7. Placer deposits form at Earth's surface when weathering action exposes gold from other, older lode deposits.
According to Discovery, 16 Psyche has enough gold and other precious metals to give every single living person about a hundred billion dollars. It's worth about $700 quintillion in total. NASA plans to send a mission to the asteroid in October 2013, not to gather treasure but to study it.
Unlike most rocky, icy asteroids, the Psyche asteroid—located between Mars and Jupiter—contains a motherlode of metal, including gold, iron, and nickel.
During the formation of the Earth, molten iron sank to its centre to make the core. This took with it the vast majority of the planet's precious metals – such as gold and platinum. In fact, there are enough precious metals in the core to cover the entire surface of the Earth with a four metre thick layer.
As such, no series of chemical reactions can ever create gold. Chemical reactions change the number and shape of the electrons in an atom but leave the nucleus of the atom unchanged. The ancient alchemist dream of creating gold by simply reacting chemicals is therefore impossible.
Could there be planets made of gold?
Originally Answered: Is it possible for a planet to be made from solid gold or other rare metal? As gold is nonreactive, and rather high up in the periodic table it is extremely unlikely for a planet to be formed from gold by natural processes....
However, the 2018 study used computer modeling to determine that, like 90 percent of other stars, our Sun is most likely to shrink down from a red giant to become a white dwarf and then end as a planetary nebula. "When a star dies it ejects a mass of gas and dust – known as its envelope – into space.
And our own sun is judged to be the right size to become a white dwarf when it dies five billion years from now. About two billion years after that the sun's core will also crystallise leaving a giant diamond in the centre of the solar system.