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Have you ever played Friv games on your computer or tablet? Maybe you've watched a show on Viki? Did you know that those devices, along with countless others, rely on a special ingredient that's literally out of this world? We're talking about gold!
You might picture gold as shiny jewelry or treasure chests, but it's also a vital part of our electronics. And get this – gold doesn't come from Earth! It's actually made in space, in the heart of exploding stars called supernovas.
Imagine a star much bigger than our sun. When these giant stars run out of fuel, they collapse and then explode with incredible force. This explosion is so powerful that it creates gold!
The gold is then flung out into space, traveling across vast distances. Some of it, billions of years ago, landed on Earth. It's amazing to think that the tiny bits of gold in your phone or computer were once part of a star!
Here's the journey broken down:
- Star Power: Stars are like giant furnaces, constantly creating new elements. But to make gold, you need a super-powerful explosion.
- Supernova Time: When a massive star explodes as a supernova, it releases a huge amount of energy and creates heavy elements, including gold.
- Space Travelers: The gold is blasted out into space, becoming part of the dust and gas clouds that drift between the stars.
- Earth's Arrival: Over a very long time, some of this gold-carrying dust clumped together to form our planet, Earth.
So, the next time you're playing a game online or watching a video, remember the amazing journey of gold. It's a story that connects us to the vastness of space and the incredible power of stars!
"The creation of the heaviest elements in a supernova takes place in only seconds." - David Lunney, CERN Scientist
Even though we can't mine gold from supernovas, it's pretty cool to know that something so valuable came from such a far-off and powerful event. It makes you appreciate the wonders of the universe and the amazing things happening all around us, even in the tiniest devices we use every day!
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