Alchemy.
The art of manipulating
the building blocks of the Universe
to create anything you want.
...in theory, anyway...
If this reminds you of chemistry,
it's because it was.
Alchemists sought a great number of things.
Curing diseases.
Preventing death.
But we'll move away from that to...
Turning any worthless metal
to a useful metal.
Usually Lead, to Gold.
They believed that you can make anything you
want.
You just needed the right recipe.
Which... sounds fine...
...till you realize that
_these_ are not your ingredients
_these_ are.
While searching for that perfect recipe
many gave up,
many kept going,
and many claimed that you actually needed
something more
something that goes beyond the five elements
The Philosopher's Stone
This search went on for centuries,
only to be ruined
by The Birth of Chemistry
The old Five Element Model of the Universe
was superceded by scientists
in the unbelievably
futuristic society
of the 18th century.
Euurgh...
Where powerful experiments suggested that,
Yes, elements are a thing,
but they're a lot more different than the
ones
Alchemists were talking about.
This led to a new atomic model,
proposed by John Dalton.
Who claimed that:
1.
Everything in the Universe is made of **atoms**.
2.
**Atoms** of a particular **element** are
identical to each other.
3.
**Atoms** cannot be **broken** apart.
4.
Chemical processes can only *rearrange* these
atoms
and cannot **convert** an atom of one **kind**
to an atom of **another**
That doesn't sound too good for that
dream of making Gold from Lead now,
does it?
Nevertheless, with the rise of chemistry
and you know... scientific thinking.
Alchemy garnered a terrible reputation
exacerbated only by those manufacturing
counterfeit gold in their attempts at making
real gold.
Eventually all attempts at transmutations
were outlawed,
while chemistry reigned supreme.
For no one could find any flaws in this atomic
theory.
But.
Like the chemists who revealed what the
"Alchemical Elements" were made of,
Surely, it is likely.
That somebody would come up with
something similar to find what atoms are made
of...
...right?
Usually, this form of reasoning is absolutely
_terrible_.
But this time...
We have switched scientific settings already,
from crackpot mansions to chemistry labs.
So might as well do it one more time and go
to a
Physics Lab!
(finally)
Where Frederick Soddy and his buddy Ernest
Rutherford
(guess who was more popular given the resolution
of these pictures)
were trying to investigate what exactly caused
radioactivity.
You know, when rocks were releasing
high energy radiation on their own.
Soddy noticed that Thorium, a naturally radioactive
element
was automatically converting
itself to a completely different element
Radium.
After some serious investigation, he realized
that radioactivity, was caused by this element
transforming itself to another element.
Sorry, did I say "transform"?
I meant
TRAAANNSSSMUUUTTEEE
Which is exactly, what he told Rutherford.
Soddy : "Rutherford, this is _transmutation!_"
Rutherford : "For Christ's Sake, Soddy, don't
call it 'transmutation'!"
Rutherford : "They'll have our heads off as
scientists!"
While transmutation was shown to be possible
we didn't really get to any interesting places.
Till 1925.
When experiments involving striking radioactive
nitrogen
atoms with alpha particles revealed that doing
so forced
the nitrogen atoms to transmute to oxygen
atoms.
Physicists soon realized that this,
along with several other experiments,
suggested that no,
the atom is not the bedrock, that it is possible
to
break an atom into its smaller constituent
pieces.
Which is exactly what these guys did.
By splitting a Lithium atom into two alpha
particles using protons.
And suddenly... there was hope.
For while you can't rearrange atoms to make
new elements,
you _could_ rearrange whatever is inside atoms
to make new elements.
Nearly a hundred years after the
"Can I Make Gold Out Of Anything" book was
closed,
nuclear physics research forced it open once
again...
...only to realize...
that it's easier to turn Gold to Lead than
the other way round.
So.. uhh...
Okay, I realize that you clicked this video
with
some amount of expectation that I was going
to
you know...
talk about "How You Can Make Gold"
Even though, I have to admit, how to make
gold from lead
is a tiny bit clickbaity.
Uhh... so...
HERE GOES!
While it's no lead, scientists have successfully
turned liquid mercury into gold by simply
placing mercury as a target inside a particle
accelerator.
If you don't have a particle accelerator,
then you
could use mercury inside a nuclear reactor
where you bombard neutrons on mercury instead
of
uranium which will eventually transmute to
gold.
Another way is by irradiating platinum.
Zapping atoms using high energy radiation
which will also result in you getting gold
atoms.
This turns out to be the easiest way to make
gold,
but you start with platinum...
...so why bother?
Finally, in the 1980s...
Glenn Seaborg went to Berkeley, converted
_thousands_ of atoms of Bismuth to Gold
and if you look at the periodic table
Bismuth is riiiight here.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
This is the closest we have ever gotten to
the old Alchemist dream
but like every single attempt to make gold
it takes more money that what the final gold
is worth.
Joker : "It's not about the money..."
Joker : "It's about sending a message."
But!
There is, one way that you will not believe
that works that nobody will tell you!
It involves nuclear reactors and this time
you bombard lead atoms with neutrons
and wait for a long time for it
to _eventually_ decay its way to gold!
That easy.
...uh...
...how long...?
...very long...
This method would also please many
who want to look like modern alchemists
since you're taking this magic material
that is not made of any other element
and you're shoving it into a worthless metal
only to get this... worthful...
...priceless... metal.
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Ask your friendly neighbourhood nuclear reactor
if you can borrow it for a bazillion years
and pray that humans continue existing
by the time you check out
and while you're waiting for your gold
why not _like_ this video and _share_ this
video
to other aspiring modern alchemists.
And before the security catches you and
throws you out of the nuclear reactor
don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to this channel
and HIT THAT BELL BUTTON
After all, you're gonna want more of these
videos
to keep you company while you're in jail!
Oh boy!
I hope that gold you get at the end of the
line
sure is worth it!!
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
...what am I doing...
...thanks for watching.
