Report: New Way to Melt Gold at Room Temperature Using Electron Microscope Discovered

Thanks to a reader for sending the following link from SVT.se Sweden’s national TV station’s website.

Here are some excerpts from the article (Google translated):

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/nytt-satt-att-smalta-guld-upptackt

You can melt gold at room temperature, if you only have the right equipment. The surprising discovery has been made by researchers at Chalmers [University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden]. One needs an electron microscope, and very high voltage.

The discovery has been described in the journal Physical Review Materials, and is considered to be a breakthrough in the science of different materials.

[…]

The high electrical tension had caused the gold atoms to release their connections to each other. Further experiments showed that the surface of a gold foil can be switched between a molten state and the usual ordered structure.

The report published in the journal Physical Review Materials is available at: https://journals.aps.org/prmaterials/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.085006 The full text of the article is only available for paying subscribers.