New Form of Gold Can Float on Top of a Cappuccino

Scientists may have created a new form of gold that's almost as light as air. They've constructed a nugget of real 20 carats gold that's so light it can float on top of milk foam in a cappuccino.

So how was it created? It's actually all due to pores. The new gold form, called aerogel, is a thousand times lighter than conventional gold allows. It is created with a three-dimension mesh of gold that consists mostly of pores.

The new form, interestingly enough, can hardly be differentiated from conventional gold with the naked eye. The aerogel even has a metallic shine. But in contrast to its conventional form, it's soft and  malleable by hand. It consists of 98 parts air and only two parts solid material. Of this material, more than four-fifths are gold and less than one-fifth is milk protein fibrils. That corresponds to about 20 carat gold.

In order to create the material, the researchers first heated milk proteins to produce tiny protein fibers, which they then placed in a solution of gold salt. The fibers interlaced themselves into a basic structure while the gold crystallized into small particles.

The new material could be used in many applications where gold is currently being used. The substances properties, including lighter weight, smaller material requirement, and porous structure, have advantages. For example, it could be used in jewelry and watches in addition to chemical catalysis.

The findings are published in the journal Advanced Materials.

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