I am surprised that Cecil did not mention how much energy is required to transmute base materials into gold.
I remember reading a few years back (well, quite a few years back) that transmuting elements might become more practical in a permanent space station. Zero gravity was supposed to make fusion power more achievable or you could use solar power to get things going.
Seems to me, though, that the best way to transmute base materials into gold would be to build your own star.
LINK TO COLUMN: Can we now transmute base substances into gold? - The Straight Dope
I don’t remember this and I can’t think of any reason why it should be true. Zero gravity has no effect on fusion. Heat and pressure are the ingredients, but they work pretty well in the interior of stars. There may be a zero gravity point at the exact center but everywhere else the forces balance and the gravity is the same in the interior as at the surface.
There is never going to be a practical means of transmuting elements. Getting enough to play with in a laboratory is as far as you can get. A fusion reactor may make helium but you aren’t going to blow up your balloons that way.
This doesn’t work either. Only elements up through iron can be made in a star via fusion. Heavier elements are only made during supernovas. Harvesting the gold out of a supernova explosion … Well, figuring out how to do literal magic would be a lot easier.
waddlingeagle, I’ve added a link to the column in question. Yeah, it’s on the Home Page now, but in a few days it will start to sink into the mire, and in a week or two will be well hidden in the Archives. So the link saves searching time and helps keep us on the same page. No prob that you didn’t provide one, just letting everyone know why we like them and why we add them if you didn’t.
Harvest, schmarvest. The gold just comes flying out of the supernova remnants at a substantial fraction of lightspeed. Just stand there and gather it in! (along with other metals, massive x-ray bombardment, etc.)