You can't turn lead into gold?

slipss

Ok so this was always given as an example of ....something, the nature of elements or something like that. And I know alchemists were always giving this a bash untill someone supposedly proved it was imposible. Anyways my junior cert science teacher told us one day that they've reached a point in physics/chemistry that it is actually possible to turn lead into gold, through transmutation, i think he called it, which seemed wrong to me at the time , but I figured he was our science teacher and why would he say it if it wasn't true.

So was he just gone a bit mad that day, or could people really possibly turn lead into gold nowadays? And if they can why isn't there a factory somewhere with trucks of lead going in the front door and trucks of gold going out the back door?

melekalikimaka

ya never know, atomic reconstruction one day could make it possible to make anything i thinks

passive

www.google.ie and/or www.wikipedia.org

*34 seconds*

Modern nuclear experiments have successfully transmuted lead into gold. The great expense of the procedure, however, far exceeds any gain[3]. In many ways it would be easier to convert gold into lead by nuclear means: by leaving gold in a high flux nuclear reactor for a long period of time.

197Au + n --> 198Au (half life 2.7 days) --> 198Hg + n --> 199Hg + n --> 200Hg --> + n --> 201Hg --> + n --> 202Hg + n --> + n --> 203Hg (half life 47 days) --> 203Tl + n --> 204Tl (half life 3.8 years) --> 204Pb (half life 1.4 x 1017 years)

so...yes, your teacher wasn't crazy.

mawk

yeah them nuts in cern did it a while ago. but only something crap like 3 atoms or something..