World's Largest Gold Crystal Studied at Los Alamos
When geologist John Rakovan needed better tools to investigate whether a dazzling 217.78-gram piece of gold was in fact the world's largest single-crystal specimen - a distinguishing factor that would not only drastically increase its market value but also provide a unique research opportunity - he traveled to Los Alamos National Laboratory's Lujan Neutron Scattering Center to peer deep inside the mineral using neutron diffractometry. Neutrons, different from other probes such as X-rays and electrons, are able to penetrate many centimeters deep into most materials. Revealing the inner structure of a crystal without destroying the sample - imperative, as this one is worth an estimated $1.5 million - would allow Rakovan and Lujan Center collaborators Sven Vogel and Heinz Nakotte to prove that this exquisite nugget, which seemed almost too perfect and too big to be real, was a single crystal and hence a creation of nature. Its owner, who lives in the United States, provided the samples to Rakovan to assess the crystallinity of four specimens, all of which had been found decades ago in Venezuela.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1167035
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
CERBERUS: A Multi-Purpose Spectrometer and Alignment Station at SNS
Review of the Lujan neutron scattering center: basic energy sciences prereport February 2009