Making gold

[Charlatan]

If we were to place a piece of something that will become gold with ime iside a container, and speed up the reactions of the container, we dould have made gold. This would be useful in determining the wealth of the countries as they often have much more assets than the gold can pay for.

To make gold react faster to it's surroundings we could place it in a conaitner and then speed up the reactions by studying the reactions that take place. If it does something, then make it do that thing a million times faster or something so that it 'ages' quickly. This would make it progress to gold faster.

To speed up the reactions we would need a laser producing false information about the outside world. If it produces something because of something, then recreate that process a thousand fold or whatever. If it ages because of changes in the 'rock', make those changes occur by using chemicals to age it quickly, and if applicable, lasers too.

Or, we could take existing gold and make the rest of the rocks the same as the gold by making the gold gaseous and studying the gasm then replicating the gas, and then cooling it into liquid form again.

[Chinook]

People have been trying to do this for ages, and it's simply not possible.

The problem is that harvesting or concentrating gold from huge dilute sources such as the oceans consumes more energy than the resulting gold is worth.

[Jack]

Alchemy 101.

[The Bacon Guy]

Actually it's perfectly possible to make gold from other metals using nuclear transmutation. Ironically, the first metal they ever managed this with was platinum, but they've got it to work with mercury now as well.

[Charlatan]

Nuclear transmutation seems like a step in the right direction, but we want it to be cheap and safe.

If they were to place the metal into a time machine, then they could age it artificially. If we were to find the reactions between the rocks and what makes it result in gold, we could make more gold.

What is the chemical formula for time? If we were to subject that metal to the formula, making the time run faster, we could make the time pass more quickly. So what makes 'metals' decay? Time and lack of oxygen I would say. So we starve the container of all the things it needs to stay in it's current form, and add decaying agents to it. If we were to take away all the oxygen, and compress the other gasses onto it, we would effectively age the metals. Maybe if we were to take away other gasses needed for the metal to breathe it would have a hastening effect?

Well why not decay the metals artificially and produce more stable elements?

[gallo]

As I understand it, the synthetic manufacture of gold from some other element costs more to accomplish than the gold is worth.

Perhaps Charlatan is unaware that things just don't become gold with time, so there is no process to speed up. Like all elements above hydrogen, gold is formed in stars. Everything up to iron yields energy when fused. Normally, stars begin by fusing hydrogen into helium. The other elements are formed by various other fusions. Everything above iron requires the input of lots of energy to fuse. Such energy is available when large stars go super nova.

Things don't turn into gold when they are left sitting around - except that gold left sitting around in a fission reactor will become lead.

[Compugasm]

Quote by: Charlatan If they were to place the metal into a time machine, then they could age it artificially.

Oh, well if that's all they needed to do, then what's the hold up? There seems to be something wrong with this observation. The universe is billions of years old, and if all we needed was time to produce gold, then gold should be everywhere, and it isn't.

[Walrus]

If you could manufacture gold cheaply, what would be the point?

[viper]

A basic form of chemistry began thousands of years ago when kings commissioned chemists to attempt to make, not mine gold. They of course failed in this, but it aided future research.

Problem is, you can't create something of value cheaply, (i.e printing money.) The federal reserve has the learned this the hard way since the US dollar was brough off the gold standard.... oh wait they didn't learn a thing never mind.

[Goyboy]

Quote by: Charlatan What is the chemical formula for time?

There is no chemical formula for time because time is a measurement.
To be specific, time is the measurement of the movement of celestial bodies.

For example, a day is defined as one complete rotation of the Earth on its axis. A year is defined as one complete trip around the Sun by the Earth. A month is defined as one complete trip around the Earth by the Moon.

Asking for the chemical formula for time is like asking for the chemical formula for a mile or a kilometer.

[Affluence]

Quote by: Charlatan Nuclear transmutation seems like a step in the right direction, but we want it to be cheap and safe. If they were to place the metal into a time machine, then they could age it artificially. If we were to find the reactions between the rocks and what makes it result in gold, we could make more gold. What is the chemical formula for time? If we were to subject that metal to the formula, making the time run faster, we could make the time pass more quickly. So what makes 'metals' decay? Time and lack of oxygen I would say. So we starve the container of all the things it needs to stay in it's current form, and add decaying agents to it. If we were to take away all the oxygen, and compress the other gasses onto it, we would effectively age the metals. Maybe if we were to take away other gasses needed for the metal to breathe it would have a hastening effect? Well why not decay the metals artificially and produce more stable elements?

Interesting Theory. Have you considered that Gold manifests when needed? Similar to quarks appearing when we observe them and moving away when we turn away? It may be the missing link to some theories. Peace and thanks for the post. BTW Did they really make Platnium? Can you elaborate on that?

[Affluence]

Quote by: Walrus If you could manufacture gold cheaply, what would be the point?

Well for those bent on our destruction, it would collapse the world economy as we know it. You thought the middle ages were bad? Peace.

[gallo]

Quote by: Affluence Well for those bent on our destruction, it would collapse the world economy as we know it. You thought the middle ages were bad? Peace.

Yeah, but I would have gold plumbing fixtures (including the john) and a few more gold rings than the single one that I wear, and gold plated knobs in my car, and lots of necklaces spelling out current buzz words. Gold frames for my glasses. A gold belt buckle. Wouldn't it be grand?

[Charlatan]

The chemicals used to produce gold are cheaper than you think gallo. If it requires some chemical reaction to make something else into gold, then those chemicals surely cost less than the gold made.

How would this effect the economy? It would make governments rich with gold, which citizens will still want. This makes the government richer in something that the world wants - they could analyse the amount needed and produce that. Then they could instead of sending money to foreign countries, send them gold to base their economy on, depending on how much they need.

The chemical reactions that lead to gold formation could be replicated, with chemicals that are evident in the aging process, and then they could produce more gold quickly. All you need to do is observe and apply - a high school student could do it.

[loser]

We all have time machines.

The ones that take us to the past are called memories.

The ones that take us to the future are called dreams.

-Jeremy Irons

Loser adds:

The ones that take us to faraway places (other worlds) are drugs...

Sherlock Holmes: It's elemental, Dr. Watson.

[gallo]

Quote by: Charlatan The chemicals used to produce gold are cheaper than you think gallo. If it requires some chemical reaction to make something else into gold, then those chemicals surely cost less than the gold made.

You can't produce gold from chemicals. Gold is an element, not a chemical compound.

How would this effect the economy? It would make governments rich with gold, which citizens will still want. This makes the government richer in something that the world wants - they could analyse the amount needed and produce that. Then they could instead of sending money to foreign countries, send them gold to base their economy on, depending on how much they need.

One of the many things that you don't seem to understand is economics.

The chemical reactions that lead to gold formation could be replicated, with chemicals that are evident in the aging process, and then they could produce more gold quickly. All you need to do is observe and apply - a high school student could do it.

Again, gold is an element and cannot be produced by aging or chemical reactions. If a high school student could do it, they would. Gold can only be formed by the fusion of two lighter elements, and those can only be formed by the fusion of other lighter elements. That fusion only takes place in the core of stars (elements up to iron) or in the outer layers of super nova stars as the core implodes and the shock wave causes fusion in the atmosphere. It doesn't happen in high schools.

[tengers]

Quote by: Charlatan The chemicals used to produce gold are cheaper than you think gallo. If it requires some chemical reaction to make something else into gold, then those chemicals surely cost less than the gold made. How would this effect the economy? It would make governments rich with gold, which citizens will still want. This makes the government richer in something that the world wants - they could analyse the amount needed and produce that. Then they could instead of sending money to foreign countries, send them gold to base their economy on, depending on how much they need. The chemical reactions that lead to gold formation could be replicated, with chemicals that are evident in the aging process, and then they could produce more gold quickly. All you need to do is observe and apply - a high school student could do it.

Gallo is correct, Gold and all elements are forged in the stars, so were we and all of the 91 elements beyond Hydrogen. Before the time of our sun, other stars had lived out their lives and exploded. As stars go through their cycle, they produce the elements, in a fusion process that involves very high temperatures, with most formed in the last part of the life of a star. When our sun formed, the planets also formed. The non-gaseous planets contain the heavier elements from the old stars. Our sun will also go through this cycle.

[Muckraker]

Quote by: Charlatan The chemicals used to produce gold are cheaper than you think gallo. If it requires some chemical reaction to make something else into gold, then those chemicals surely cost less than the gold made.

Gold has no inherent value. Its value is determined by its rarity and uses.

Man-made diamonds and emeralds are perfect examples of this concept.

[Judicator]

Alchemy sort of fell out of favor with chemistry.

Also, the creation of fiat currency means it's unnecessary to find more gold if you want to expand the amount of hard currency in circulation.

[Charlatan]

Quote by: Chinook People have been trying to do this for ages, and it's simply not possible. The problem is that harvesting or concentrating gold from huge dilute sources such as the oceans consumes more energy than the resulting gold is worth.

Of course now that fission reacotrs are a option, it is cheap!

We need to replicate what happens naturally of course, with chemicals and lasers. If it changes composition because of something, and it is changing into gold eventually, then pump it full of that reaction until a new one comes along.

We could even stick it into a time machine. A vast quantity of rock that will be gold inside a time machine would speed it up, and the power is there now. Simply stick it in the thingy and accelerate the inside of the machine so the reactions go faster, same with diamonds and othe rprecious metals, wood to coal, etc. The machine simply studies the inside of itself and replicates reacions inside the machine. If it were to simply accelerate one atom on the outside of the area but inside the machine - that is sealed of course - then it would have a chain reaction on every atom inside the box. So find a atom, accelerate it, watch the knock on effect as al the other atoms catch up.