Thursday, 9th October 2008 (734 views)

Gold is featured in a series of experiments being carried out in order to gain more knowledge on how energy is converted deep below the earth.

A team from Arizona State University is hoping to unlock the secret of how deeply buried organic matter forms into substances used for oil and petroleum.

Compounds such as water, carbon dioxide and iron oxides are placed into gold capsules and subjected to high pressures and temperatures by the scientists in an attempt to reproduce the process that goes on under the Earth's crust.

Everett Shock, a professor in the institution's School of Earth and Space Exploration, said that water has very different properties under these conditions than people would expect.

"The transformation in how water behaves is so enormous that we would hardly recognise it as the same stuff that comes out of our kitchen taps," she remarked.

It is hoped the work may lead to environmentally-friendly solutions to energy issues.

A green method of creating gold nanoparticles was recently developed by the University of Missouri.

 

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