Why is there such a significant difference in value between gold and iron, which are both composed of the same protons, neutrons, and electrons?

Tech 2023-05-16 17:36:16 Source: Network

Gold and iron are metals with different values, but even children know that gold is relatively expensive. Otherwise, how could one say that an inch of time is an inch of gold? These two values have a huge difference, but the true essence is not much different, because there is no difference between the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up gold and iron atoms!What are substances composed of?The electron should be the earliest particle found in the atom

Gold and iron are metals with different values, but even children know that gold is relatively expensive. Otherwise, how could one say that an inch of time is an inch of gold? These two values have a huge difference, but the true essence is not much different, because there is no difference between the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up gold and iron atoms!

What are substances composed of?

The electron should be the earliest particle found in the atom. It was discovered by Joseph Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University in 1897 when he repeated the Hertz experiment. However, it was not really confirmed until 1899 when Thomson measured the charge mass ratio equal to the previous cathode ray in the photoelectric effect experiment and the thermionic emission experiment. It is the first elementary particle discovered by mankind

The discovery of atomic nuclei

The nucleus was made by Ernest Rutherford in 1909 When scattering particles, it was found that most of the particles passed through the gold foil, and only a few of them deviated and rebounded. According to this scattering angle, Ernest Rutherford estimated that there was a very small but massive atom, which occupied the mass of almost all atoms, but its size was incredibly small.

The Discovery of Protons

As early as 1815, William Prout discovered that the density of various gases was an integer multiple of hydrogen, so he believed that all atoms were composed of hydrogen atoms. Although his argument was incorrect, he had to say that this idea was really very correct. More than 100 years later, in 1919, Ernest Rutherford used The collision between particles and nitrogen discovered the hydrogen nucleus, thus discovering the proton.

The Discovery of Neutrons

After discovering the proton, Ernest Rutherford proposed the possibility of the existence of neutrons. His guess came from the difference between atomic weight and atomic number. More than a decade later, his student Chadwick The particle bombardment of the boron 10 nucleus yields a nitrogen 13 nucleus and a new radiation, which he believes is a neutral particle with a mass similar to that of a proton, and he designed experiments to confirm his theory. Neutral particles later became known as neutrons.

Of course, neutrons and protons can still be separated, but it is enough to illustrate gold, silver, copper, and iron!

How are various elements generated?

The composition of elements is actually quite simple. The combination of neutrons and protons determines the classification of elements, the number of protons in the nucleus determines their elemental properties, the number of neutrons determines what isotopes they are, the external electrons determine whether their chemical properties are active, and three familiar particles make up the entire world.

Hydrogen element number one: One proton is the isotope hydrogen, one proton and one neutron are deuterium, and one proton and two neutrons are tritium. The most abundant element on Earth is hydrogen, with deuterium accounting for 0.02%. Tritium is a trace because it decays.

The second helium element: two protons and one neutron are helium three, two protons and two neutrons are helium four, and all on Earth are helium four.

No. 3 lithium element: three protons and four neutrons are lithium-7, that is, lithium used as battery, three protons and three neutrons are lithium-6, which are commonly used to generate tritium by neutron bombardment in hydrogen bombs, or to generate tritium by surplus neutrons in nuclear fusion reactors.

Iron element 26: Iron element consists of 26 protons and 30 neutrons, forming an isotope of iron-56. Iron also has many isotopes, but the nucleus of iron-56 is the most stable, as we will explain in detail below.

........

79 gold element: The gold element has 79 protons and 118 neutrons, called gold-197, and can also have isotopes, but they are all artificial! Gold is one of the most chemically stable elements in nature.

The simplest ratio of protons and neutrons constitutes the most complex matter in the transverse universe. All matter in the universe is composed of these substances. Of course, there is a world where only neutrons do not have protons. Because a single neutron will decay in the natural state, neutron star is this so-called element 0.

How do elements come from?

It's very simple to say, but it's difficult to manufacture because it's very difficult to combine the nucleus of the hydrogen atom, which is two protons, and even the temperature on the sun is a bit lacking. If it weren't for Gamov's derivation of the quantum mechanics formula for protons overcoming Coulomb repulsion barriers, which is the quantum tunneling effect, everyone would still be staring at the sun in a daze!

Proton chain reaction

But even the fusion of hydrogen and hydrogen in the sun is still very slow, with about one out of a billion opportunities to fuse into deuterium. This probability is really too low, but fortunately, there are many such opportunities inside the sun, so there are plenty of opportunities for the sun to waste. However, humans find it difficult to meet the requirements, and they still require the lowest levels of deuterium and tritium.

On the specific binding energy

The ratio of the binding energy of the atomic nucleus to the number of nucleons is the binding energy. Generally, the number of nucleons in the atomic nucleus is larger than the binding energy. However, the exception is protium. Because a proton needs to absorb energy and convert it into neutrons before it can become deuterium, the first step is particularly difficult. When it comes to deuterium and tritium, it is much easier. Because of the reconciliation of neutrons, it becomes more difficult later. The specific binding energy of elements is as follows.

Specific binding energy curve of elements

So it sounds like elemental manufacturing is very simple, just a pile of protons and neutrons, but overcoming the strong Coulombic repulsion between protons until the strong binding force takes effect is extremely difficult. It can only be achieved under ultra-high temperatures and pressures, and the most successful one so far is stars.

How did gold and iron come from?

In fact, the sun's ability is very limited, because the limit of future fusion can only reach carbon and oxygen based on the sun's temperature, but there are stars in the universe that are much more massive than solar mass, so their nuclear fusion can go all the way from hydrogen to iron:

Hydrogen deuterium helium-3 helium-4 beryllium-8 carbon-12 oxygen-16 neon 20 magnesium-24 silicon 28 sulfur 32 argon 36 calcium 40 titanium 44 chromium 48 iron 52 nickel 56

So the final element of stellar fusion will be nickel - 56, but it will decay back to iron. However, when the core of the star is fused to iron, the end of the star will come. The iron core will no longer produce energy and cannot provide radiation pressure, and the shell will collapse and cause supernova explosion. Therefore, the heavier elements in the future will synthesize heavier elements in the process of fast neutron capture in the neutron stream exploded in this process.

Fast neutron capture and slow neutron capture

Fast neutron capture requires iron based atomic nuclei, and the process is actually not complicated. An atomic nucleus that captures more neutrons will decay and become unstable. Therefore, for each neutron that decays into a proton, its element number will be+1. It depends on fate how many neutrons are captured in the fast neutron stream of a supernova explosion, and which element is stable during decay. However, it can be understood that the higher the atomic nucleus number, the lower the probability, So it makes sense for gold to be precious!

Schematic diagram of heavy elements generated by neutron capture

Another approach is slow neutron capture inside red giants. The principle is the same, but the production of heavy elements is relatively slow. Fortunately, red giants have a super long time (for supernovae), so they can also produce more than half of the heavy elements.

Neutron star merging

Of course, you must have been popular in science about neutron star (one of the outcomes of stars, which is generally 8-20 times the solar mass range of stars eventually formed) colliding to form a large number of heavy elements, because these are all neutrons. After the collision, these neutrons began to decay after losing the conditions of neutron star. The proportion of heavy elements formed is very high, so neutron star is the real gold mine.

The most stable gold and the most stable iron

Gold is one of the most chemically stable metals. It has been buried underground for thousands of years and still shines brightly after blowing away the floating soil. Why is it not easy for gold to rust? We mentioned electrons earlier, because the arrangement of the electron layer is closely related to the chemical stability of the element. Generally speaking, the electron layer distribution of gold is 281832181, so its outermost electron is only one, which should be easily lost. Why is it stable instead?

The arrangement relationship of electrons outside the nucleus of gold is 5d106s1, which means that there are six electron layers outside the nucleus of the gold atom, with only one electron at the outermost layer. However, the outer and third layer electrons also have an impact on their channel chemical properties. Therefore, in order for gold to undergo a chemical reaction, not only the outermost electrons but also the second outer electrons need to be lost, and losing these electrons requires a lot of energy absorption. When this level is not reached, The element of gold goes its own way, so thousands of years later it will still be gold.

However, it is not that gold can truly remain unchanged. It does not work in aqua regia (a mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid (HCl) and concentrated nitric acid (HNO ) in a volume ratio of 3:1), and can be directly dissolved.

The most stable iron?

Iron should be the most unstable element and rust everywhere, unless it forms a special alloy with other metals that is not easy to rust. Therefore, if iron is stable, an estimated 100 people will object. In fact, iron is such a virtue, but what we want to say is not the chemical property of iron, but the stability of its atomic nucleus. It is at the peak of binding energy, which means that polymerization is the most difficult, and splitting is also the most difficult. After the iron atomic nucleus, it can theoretically fission, but before it reaches iron, it can theoretically fusion. Iron is just at the bottom of this pit, so after the element reaches iron, it can neither fusion nor fission, so iron is the most stable, Everyone should not object anymore!

However, as mentioned earlier, iron can be captured by fast neutrons to become a higher order element, but this does not affect it becoming the most stable element, otherwise our world would only have the most precious iron.

Is there a difference between protons, neutrons, and electrons in gold and iron atoms?

In the previous text, we have already understood the origin and development of elements. Finally, let's confirm that there is no difference between the electrons in gold atoms and those in iron atoms, and their protons and neutrons are also the same. Of course, not to mention gold and iron, all electrons in the universe are the same.

Here we talked about the visible matter, and the corresponding dark matter and dark energy. We are confused about this. We only know that dark matter has gravity and weak interaction, while dark energy will generate repulsion. In addition, for example, what these two substances are composed of, scientists can only shrug their shoulders, indicating that they are also helpless.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is sourced from the internet. The copyright of the text, images, and other materials belongs to the original author. The platform reprints the materials for the purpose of conveying more information. The content of the article is for reference and learning only, and should not be used for commercial purposes. If it infringes on your legitimate rights and interests, please contact us promptly and we will handle it as soon as possible! We respect copyright and are committed to protecting it. Thank you for sharing.(Email:[email protected])

Mobile advertising space rental

Tag: and Why is there such significant difference in value