Alchemy Turning Lead Into Gold

Generations of alchemists attempted to brand gilded out of cheaper metals. Modern science has shown that all you really demand is an exploding star, or at least a particle accelerator

In Greek mythology, everything Rex Midas touched turned into gold. It was called "the Midas affect," a term used to depict a knack for making coin in every business venture or greed. Midas' story is a testimonial to humanity's obsession for this special metallic. For thousands of years, gilded symbolized wealth and formed the basis for global economy and merchandise. It aroused marvel and greed in people of both science and spirit, who tried for years to make the Midas touch a reality past turning other materials, considered to be of lesser value, into gilded. These attempts, collectively called alchemy, failed. But tin can today'south knowledge and technology brand an ancient dream come true?

מגע מידאס הפך ביטוי נרדף להצלחה כלכלית. מידאס ובתו בציור של נתניאל הותורן, 1893 | מקור: ויקיפדיה, נחלת הכלל

The Midas touch became synonymous with economic success. Midas and his daughter in a cartoon by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1893. Source: Wikipedia public domain

From "ill" metals to gold

Alchemy is a pre-scientific subject field that was widespread up until the Middle Ages, and focused on the nature of materials and the reactions between them. Alchemy combined philosophical behavior, like the belief held by Greek philosopher Aristotle, according to which every material in nature strives for perfection. The most perfect cloth, according to alchemists, was gold. Besides its unique color, aureate can withstand other materials and environments, and it is piece of cake to weld and shape. Alchemists thought, like Aristotle, that other materials, such every bit lead and iron, are inferior and "ill." They believed these could be "cured" and turned into the coveted golden in a procedure called "transmutation".

Alchemists' experiments were based on the premise that each textile in nature is a combination of four basic elements – water, air, fire, and earth – thus, manipulating these ingredients tin can lead to the creation of new materials. In the Arabic globe, a widely accustomed theory was that each metallic is fabricated of sulphur, mercury, and salt, in dissimilar ratios. The attempts to make golden on the basis of these beliefs produced materials that were similar to gilded in colour and shape, but not real gold.

The holy grail of abracadabra was a legendary material called the Philosopher'due south Stone, which could change any cloth into golden. Merely the Philosopher'south Stone was never found, and all abracadabra efforts failed. Somewhen, it became articulate that alchemy was fundamentally incorrect, and information technology was replaced with scientific chemistry.

באופן מפתיע - האלכימאים לא הצליחו למצוא את האבן שתאפשר ייצור זהב. אבן החכמים | אילוסטרציה: Shutterstock

Alchemists could not detect the stone that would make gold production possible. The Philosopher'southward Stone. Illustration: Shutterstock

Adding and subtracting of protons

With the evolution of science, scientists came to discover that all the materials in nature are made of atoms, and that atoms are made of three components: Protons and neutrons in the nucleus, and electrons that orbit the nucleus. Chemic elements are divers past the number of protons in the nucleus of their atoms. That is the "atomic number," which appears above the symbol of each element in the periodic table. For example, every atom that has only i proton is a hydrogen atom, and every atom that has 79 protons will be a gold atom. This information was not bachelor to alchemists, but today, we can conclude that transmutation is indeed possible, and if we add protons to or remove protons from a nucleus, we'll end up with unlike elements.

לא הכירו את מבנה האטום. אלכימאי ועוזרו בעבודה, ציור של ג'וזף רייט מהמאה ה-18 | מקור: ויקיפדיה, נחלת הכלל

No cognition of atomic structure. An alchemist and his assistant at piece of work, painting by Joseph Wright. Source: Wikipedia, public domain

The fusion reactors of the periodic tabular array

Nuclear fusion processes require big amounts of energy. Energy similar that can be found, for example, in the cores of stars. In such environments, transmutation happens all the fourth dimension, when light elements, similar hydrogen and helium, are fused together, turning into heavier elements, usually upwards to fe, whose atomic number is 26. Making elements heavier than atomic number 26 requires more than energy, which is released only on rare events of supernova, or the "death" of a star, which is accompanied by an explosion and massive radiations. These heavier elements be on Earth considering remnants of supernovas accept landed on information technology over billions of years.

Chemical element formation occurs on Globe equally well, in processes of "radioactivity." These processes work in the contrary management, that is, they involve the degradation of heavy elements into lighter ones. In sure atoms, the nucleus is radioactive and unstable, a property usually linked to the number of neutrons in the nucleus. A radioactive atom stabilizes merely after emitting energetic radiations, which is sometimes accompanied by conversion of 1 type of subatomic particle into another, such equally protons to neutrons.. type of radioactivity occurs in the germination of argon in the World's atmosphere from radioactive potassium atoms . Free energy production in nuclear reactors is based on nuclear fission, where radioactive uranium breaks down to lighter elements, including xenon and strontium.

הזהב יעלה הרבה יותר מדי כסף. המדען הבריטי פרדריק סודי, מחלוצי הרדיוכימיה | מקור: ויקיפדיה, נחלת הכלל

Golden will cost a lot more coin. British scientist Frederick Soddy, a radiochemist pioneer. Source: Wikipedia, public domain

Physics is the new abracadabra

It'southward difficult to control the results of these radioactive processes, but the technological developments and invention of particle accelerators have given humanity the ability to conduct bogus transmutation for the start fourth dimension. Past accelerating a neutron beam to a speed close to that of low-cal and projecting it on a metal sheet, protons can be torn out of metal atoms and turned into atoms of other elements. The age-old vision of alchemists was revived in the 1940s, when researchers used this method to make gilt atoms from mercury, whose atoms have ane more proton than those of gold. Similarly, in 1980, other researchers made gold from bismuth, which has iv more protons than gold.

However, this success was mostly theoretical, because the amount of gold created in these experiments was pocket-size. Furthermore, the gold created was mostly radioactive, then information technology was dangerous to humans. A gold atom has 79 protons, only too 118 neutrons that stabilize its nucleus. The aureate atoms created in the particle accelerator had a surplus of neutrons, which rust-covered radioactively over a few days, turning the atoms into unlike elements.

At that place'southward also the question of cost: Using a particle accelerator in the 1980s toll $5,000 per hour; according to i of the projection managers, David Morrissey, the researchers used the equipment for an unabridged day just to create a small amount of gold – while the price of one gram of aureate (as of March 2020), is effectually $52.

Frederick Soddy, a well-known English radiochemist in the early 20th century, estimated that artificial production of gold would not be practical: "If man ever achieved this further control over Nature, it is quite certain that the last thing he would want to do would exist to turn lead or mercury into gilt – for the sake of aureate." In other words, transmutation into golden is a process that is not worth the investment, and with the existing technologies today does not provide a return on investment. Meanwhile, allow u.s. manage with the resources nature offers, at least until future technologies will let otherwise.