Scientists at the U.S. National Laboratory in Los Alamos, with the help of neutron scanner determine the credibility of the largest gold nugget ever found that originated from a single crystal of this precious metal. Nugget extracted from the river in Venezuela decades ago has the size of a golf ball and weighs 217.78 grams. It is worth as estimated $1.5 million. The owner of nugget, who lives in the U.S., gave four pieces of gold to the scientist, geologist John Rakovan to study it and he verified that all originated from single crystals.
If so, and if their process of creation was completely natural, it will immediately increase their value.
“The structure or atomic arrangement of gold crystals of this size has never been studied before, and we have a unique opportunity to do so,” said Rakovan, a professor at the University of Miami.
According to “Daily Mail“, he used the neutron scanner for checking, since neutrons, in contrast to X-rays and electrons, have the ability to penetrate deeper into the matter. The trials showed that three out of four samples derived from a single crystal of gold, instead of connecting multiple crystals.
