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Thursday, 26th June 2008 (1060 views)

Gold nanoparticles too small to be viewed by the naked eye have been discovered in the natural world.

Scientists in Australia have detected gold nanoparticles, previously only created in laboratories, in southern areas of Melbourne, reports the Times of India.

Groundwater here is salty and acidic so it dissolves primary gold and redeposits this in the form of gold crystals in open pore spaces and on fracture surfaces, Dr Rob Hough, lead scientist of the team led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

"On investigation of these crystals, there appeared to be a dark band across them. However high magnification imaging showed the band was in fact, a mass of gold nanoparticles and nanoplates," he told the publication.

When clays from the fracture surface were analysed, up to 59 parts per million of gold were detected.

CSIRO is Australia's national science agency and was formed in 1926.

 

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