How much would it cost to 'make' gold or platinum?

Factual Questions
1

Let’s assume that I am a big nation with access to a particle accelerator, or whatever currently existing hardware I need.

From my very basic understanding of fusion, something like the following is theoretically possible:

CheapoElement1 + fairy dust + gobs of energy --> PreciousElement2 + rainbow sprinkles

I know it takes gobs and gobs of energy to make the reaction happen, but CheapoElement1 is inexpensive, and something like platinum going for $500+ an ounce…how much are we talking about to produce precious metals?

2

I’m not even sure I understand the question, but even if everything was going to work smoothly, it seems to me there would still be a problem. The reason that these minerals are rare is that in the process not as much is made as some of the more common elements. What are you going to do with all the carbon?

3

I remember reading that the costs were in the tens of thousands of dollars per gram. That much energy doesn’t come cheap.

4

I remember hearing that the cost of turning lead into gold was about 10 times the cost of buying gold. I don’t have a cite, though, so don’t take my word for it. Also, I think that this does not include the cost of the collider.

5

What makes you think the isotopes of gold and/or platinum you produce will be stable? Hardly anybody wants radioactive gold…

6

Also, remember that while making an atom of gold may be fairly straightforward, to get a gram of gold you’ll have to repeat the process roughly 6x10[sup]21[/sup] times.

I don’t know the rates at which accelerators can smack particles together, but I think it’ll be quite a while (and at quite a drain on the national treasury) before you start affecting worldwide gold prices.

–sublight.

7

sorry, that should be 3x10[sup]21[/sup], not 6.

8

Well, heck if it’s only 3x10[sup]21[/sup], let’s go for it.

9

That’s just what I was thinking after I posted my correction. :smiley:

–sublight.

10

That depends on how long its half life is doesn’t it. In another thread they mention a guy that has been sentenced to over 348,000 years. Could he use it to ease his entry back into society?

11

I remember in high school (that was 86) Chemistry that while gold could be made it was only stable ror a few milliseconds.

12

You can make gold-199 . . . from platinum-198. Probably not too cost-effective. Gold-199 is decays to stable mercury-199 with a half-life of 3.14 days. The government sells it, but I’m guessing you need a license to buy. I’m not sure what uses it has. http://www.ornl.gov/isotopes/r_au199.html

13

Not really – the radioactive decay process means it isn’t gold anymore, but probably lead.

14

According to chemicalelements.com’s page on Gold, there are six radioactive isotopes of Gold. They are Au-194, Au-195, Au-195m, Au-196, Au-198, and Au-199, with half-lives of 1.6 days, 186.1 days, 30.5 seconds, 6.2 days, 2.7 days, and 3.14 days. Au-197 is stable. None of these is on the order of milliseconds, and most are on the order of days. That would be enough time to trade it to some terrorist group for a bomb or something, I’d think.

15

What’s the difference between Au-195 and Au-195m?

16

The m indicates an isomeric state (excited nuclear state). Au-195m decays to Au-195 by isomeric transition with a halflife of 30.5 seconds. As far as I know, isomeric transitions from more to less excited states always involve the emission of a gamma ray.

My tables list 33 isotopes and 10 isomeric states for gold, but the tables are 16 years old.

17

So if I started with 1 g of Au-199, in 3.14 days I would have .5 g of Au-199 floating in a puddle of .5 g of Mr (mercury?)? That’s a strange visual…