An international team of scientists has achieved a significant breakthrough by superheating a sample of gold to temperatures exceeding its melting point without causing it to melt. This experiment challenges the long-standing "entropy catastrophe" theory, which posits that solids cannot remain stable above approximately three times their melting temperature.
The researchers utilized a laser to rapidly heat a nanometer-thin gold foil, causing its atoms to vibrate at high speeds. They then employed ultrabright X-rays to measure the speed of these vibrating atoms, effectively determining the material's temperature. Remarkably, the gold sample reached temperatures over 19,000 kelvins—more than 14 times its melting point—while maintaining its solid crystalline structure.
This finding suggests that the superheating limit for solids may be much higher than previously thought, or potentially nonexistent, if heating occurs rapidly enough. The rapid heating prevented the gold from expanding, allowing it to retain its solid state. These results have significant implications for understanding material behavior under extreme conditions, such as those found in planetary cores and fusion reactors.
The study, titled "Superheating gold beyond the predicted entropy catastrophe threshold," was published in the journal Nature. ## Superheated gold defies melting point, overturning physics theories: - [Fusion energy start-up claims to have cracked alchemy](https://www.ft.com/content/06f91e0d-3007-40bd-b785-86fef4890809?utm_source=openai)