Silver and gold did not originate together

The scientists are still conducting various studies in hope to thoroughly explain cosmic origin of heavy elements such as silver and gold. Most scientists agree with the theory that lightweight chemical elements such as hydrogen and helium came into existence moments after the Big Bang. This however wasn't the case with heavy elements such as gold and silver that materialized much later in the interior of stars or during supernovas.

The previous presumption was that gold and silver both originate from the same kind of exploding stars but this is not the case according to a Heidelberg scientist Dr. Camilla Hansen who believes that silver and gold materialized in completely different star explosions.

Dr. Hansen came to this conclusion after observing that the amount of silver in the stars measured is completely independent of the amounts of other heavy elements like gold. What this means is that the supernova silver is completely different process as compared to supernova gold and that silver hadn't originate together with gold.

Silver and gold have therefore probably materialized from two different types of stars, namely stars with different masses.

Heavy elements such as gold, silver, iron were likely produced by supernovas of large stars (ten times the size of our Sun), with the deciding factor behind the creation of certain element being primarily the mass of the star.

Dr. Hansen said that „after this discovery, we must now use simulations of these processes in supernova explosions to investigate more precisely when the conditions for the formation of silver and gold are present so we can find out how heavy the stars were that could produce silver and gold during their dramatic demise.“