Turning lead into gold

[frankglennjacobs@gmail.com]

Swansont wisely told me not to hijack someone else's Thread.

 

After I did.

 

Swansont told me to start a new Thread.

 

So here it is.

 

 

A modern-day Alchemist suggested (speculated!) in these Speculations that we could turn lead into gold by putting a lead atom next to a hydrogen atom (that shouldn't be too hard) and then synchronizing their vibrations until they merge.

 

No. It was even more technical than that. Line up their axes of spin. And their temperature. And . . .

 

No. I'm getting this all wrong.

 

The solar furnaces make heavy atoms out of light ones all day and all night. That might have something to do with their kazillion-degree heat simply overwhelming all resistance to that atomic synchronization. SOMETHING made gold out of hydrogen.

 

Maybe he's got something there. Pb + H > Au

 

This may be hard to accomplish in an electric home hobby-grade ceramics kiln.

 

Could it be done in a University-grade cyclotron or atom-smasher particle-accelerator?

[fiveworlds]

It is possible to make gold it is just ridiculously expensive to do so. You're talking about a million times the current price of gold.

[swansont]

Describe the pathway for this to happen. "Pb + H > Au" will not suffice

 

IOW, include some science.

[DrKrettin]

The Scientific American says yes.

[fiveworlds]

So does wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation

 

They gave the following equation.

 

¹⁹⁷Au + n → ¹⁹⁸Au (half-life 2.7 days) → ¹⁹⁸Hg + n → ¹⁹⁹Hg + n → ²⁰⁰Hg + n → ²⁰¹Hg + n → ²⁰²Hg + n → ²⁰³Hg (halflife 47 days) → ²⁰³Tl + n → ²⁰⁴Tl (halflife 3.8 years) → ²⁰⁴Pb

Edited May 6, 2017 by fiveworlds

[DrKrettin]

Um - isn't that turning gold into lead?

[Sensei]

A modern-day Alchemist suggested (speculated!) in these Speculations that we could turn lead into gold by putting a lead atom next to a hydrogen atom (that shouldn't be too hard) and then synchronizing their vibrations until they merge.

 

"Modern alchemist" should first learn about atomic number of elements.. learn about protons and neutrons, how they transform, how they decay..

 

 

Maybe he's got something there. Pb + H > Au

 

Lead has 82 protons in nucleus,

while Gold has 79 protons in nucleus.

If you will merge Pb+H you will get Bismuth (with Z=83 protons), not Gold.

 

[swansont]

"Modern alchemist" should first learn about atomic number of elements.. learn about protons and neutrons, how they transform, how they decay..

 

 

Lead has 82 protons in nucleus,

while Gold has 79 protons in nucleus.

If you will merge Pb+H you will get Bismuth (with Z=83 protons), not Gold.

 

FYI, franklin, this is the reason I asked for the pathway to forming Au from proton bombardment of Pb.

 

There is one, potentially, but if you are going to speculate about it, you need to be the one doing the proposing.

 

(DrKrettin's link shows combining of two heavier nuclei, rather than protons on Pb)

[frankglennjacobs@gmail.com]

Well, that gets me out of the "Lead Into Gold" business.

 

"I'm all in," as the Hollywood cowboy poker players say when they see what a bad hand they drew.