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It ’s the size of a golf game ball , but a mess more valuable : Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory ’s Lujan Neutron Scattering Center have swan that a heavy small-arm of gold , recover years ago in Venezuela , is , in fact , a single crystal of the valuable element — and it ’s deserving an estimated $ 1.5 million .
The lump ofgold , which weighs 217.78 grams ( about 7.7 ounces ) , was brought to Los Alamos to confirm whether it was a single watch crystal of gold , or a more common multiple - crystal social organisation . " The social organisation or atomic transcription of amber watch glass of this size has never been studied before , and we have a unique chance to do so , " Miami University geologist John Rakovan said in astatement .
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have determined that this is the world’s largest single crystal of gold.
To square up the nugget ’s internal structure , Rakovan and his colleague used two sophisticated machines : a neutron single - crystal diffraction ( SCD ) instrument , which influence the atomic arrangement of undivided crystal ; and a high - pressure / preferred orientation ( or HIPPO ) instrument , which measure out the crystallization structure and the orientation of watch glass in a polycrystalline material . These noninvasive techniques determined that the amber piece was , indeed , a very large and very rare unmarried crystallization of Au .
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have determined that this is the world’s largest single crystal of gold.
