00:00Alchemists and scientists alike have long sought to figure out exactly how gold forms
00:07beneath the Earth's crust.
00:09And while the latter are likely closer to figuring it out, researchers now say they
00:12have new data that challenges pretty much everything we thought we knew about how veins
00:16of the precious metal come into being.
00:18Gold is so rare because it doesn't dissolve very easily in water, meaning it's less
00:22likely to collect in one particular spot and form large nuggets, which is why large gold
00:26veins have baffled scientists for ages.
00:29But now they say quartz electrical voltage during seismic activity might be the cause.
00:34Gold veins are often found amongst quartz, which is made of silicon dioxide.
00:38When earthquakes occur, it causes stress on the quartz, which then produces an electric
00:42voltage.
00:43The researchers say that while the quartz is an insulating material, the gold that is
00:46accumulating nearby is a conductor, and that charge might not only jump to the gold, it
00:51could also cause an electrochemical reaction that pulls the gold out of a solution and
00:56into one particular area over time.
00:58They have now tested this theory in a lab, causing micrometer-sized gold grains to form
01:03out of a solution after just an hour of man-made tremors.
01:06They add that once an accumulation occurs, it increases the chances of more gold depositing,
01:11as the gold then behaves like another catalyst for further reactions.
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