# Will humans one day be able to perform alchemy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993 "2023-02-18T16:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/1 "2023-02-18T16:49:06Z")
Obviously alchemy was a scientific dead-end in early modern European times, but is contemporary science advancing towards a place where lead (or some other metal) can be turned into gold? And in a way that will be profitable? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/2 "2023-02-18T16:55:15Z")
Mercury was transmuted into gold in 1941. > **[Transmutation of Mercury by Fast Neutrons](https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.60.473)** > > The products of the transmutation of mercury by fast (Li+D) neutrons were investigated. Three radioactive gold isotopes were found to be formed by the $n\\ensuremath{-}p$ reactions: 65-hour ${\\mathrm{Au}}^{198}$, 78-hour ${\\mathrm{Au}}^{199}$, and a... As for _economic_ transmutation - there are more valuable things than gold. The obvious one is plutonium, made from uranium by transmutation in nuclear reactors. > **[Plutonium-239](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium-239)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Plutonium-239 (239Pu or Pu-239) is an isotope of plutonium. Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 is also used for that purpose. Plutonium-239 is also one of the three main isotopes demonstrated usable as fuel in thermal spectrum nuclear reactors, along with uranium-235 and uranium-233. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,110 years. > The nuclear properties of plutonium-239, as ... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/3 "2023-02-18T17:19:34Z")
The classic lead-into-gold has also been done, though it’s actually much easier to turn gold into lead. But yeah, with gold specifically as the goal, it’s far from profitable, and probably never will be. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/4 "2023-02-18T17:40:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But yeah, with gold specifically as the goal, it’s far from profitable, and probably never will be. Even if the technology become better, and it uses less resources to make gold, the value of gold is in its rarity, so if it were easier to make, it would be worth less. In the limit as it becomes closer to free to transmute materials, _useful_ materials like iron will become more valuable. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/5 "2023-02-18T17:41:29Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > …is contemporary science advancing towards a place where lead (or some other metal) can be turned into gold? And in a way that will be profitable? The only way that nuclear transmutation could ever be “profitable”, i.e. capable of being performed at a scale necessary to produce large masses of stable precious metals would be to have fine control over the the residual nuclear strong force. Right now, our only way of influencing nuclear reactions is either to bombard nuclei with neutrons (produced at great expense) or by accelerating heavy ions at a target, and accepting the relatively small statistical likelihood of an interaction (capture), which requires some of the most expensive and power-hungry machines on the planet. We have no idea how or if such fine control is even possible with current physics, and if it were the ‘profit’ would be kind of irrelevant since you could literally make any element or compound with that kind of fine control over atomic and nuclear structure. Unless this ability were somehow contained to a small priesthood of special luminaries, there would be literally no ‘value’ in any natural material and any baryonic matter could be a feedstock to build your gold-and-platinum castle. Of course, when modern science fiction considers such a capability at all, they use to to explain a machine that can make chocolate sundaes and “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” upon demand. “He’s such a dullard, isn’t he?” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/6 "2023-02-19T00:34:48Z")
Gold is pretty much worthless. Even insane goldbugs are using cryptocurrency to replace gold as the subject of their fever dreams. OTOH, the global GDP is over $100 trillion. I’d estimate the majority of that staggering amount has been created by procedures that the ancients would consider alchemy. Why even consider such a piddling bit of nothingness as lead into gold? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/7 "2023-02-19T02:57:04Z")
Newton spent a lot of time messing around with alchemy. Ĥe discovered the hard way that it was a waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/8 "2023-02-19T06:30:27Z")
I remember reading in a biography of Admiral Rickover. During the development of naval reactors for submarines it was discovered the nuclear reaction was transmuting lead into gold. Rickover raised an eyebrow, really how much is it worth, sadly only milligrams, just a few pennies. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/9 "2023-02-19T16:44:45Z")
I have some vague recollection that turning gold into lead has some utility because an isotopically pure lead can be made, which is useful for . . . something. Google keeps returning lead-to-gold results. I’ll need to refine my search. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/10 "2023-02-19T17:08:29Z")
Wasn’t there an episode of the 1950s _Superman_ where a nutty scientist invented a gold making machine fueled by platinum? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/11 "2023-02-19T18:25:02Z")
They were just ahead of their time. Gold is now worth twice as much. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-humans-one-day-be-able-to-perform-alchemy/979993/12 "2023-02-20T07:06:08Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > In the limit as it becomes closer to free to transmute materials, _useful_ materials like iron will become more valuable. Gold _is_ useful, as a conductor and reflector and is super-malleable and dense, so if it did become common through easy alchemy, it would find lots of uses.