this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Science Memes

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[–] Fleur__@lemmy.world 138 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This doesn't work because it will also make hydrogen gas that will take up the air in the area you are in causing you to suffocate. I lost a very close friend to this please don't spread misinformation online.

[–] chetradley@lemm.ee 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's why I just buy Gadolinium and slice each atom in half!

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Huh? Wouldn't that just give you two radioactive isotopes of germanium? (^(154)Gd/2 = ^(77)Ge > ^(76)Ge)

[–] someguy7734206@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 year ago

With the right equipment, you can capture the hydrogen and use it to power your hydrogen fuel cell car. So not only do you get free gold, you get free fuel for your car as well.

[–] Player2@sopuli.xyz 14 points 1 year ago

You just have to go slowly and next to the window

[–] Zehzin@lemmy.world 79 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I think you'll lose like 5 grams from the protons, more cause you might have to remove a couple of neutrons?

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 81 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

That's the fun part. If you take just one proton off, you'll often end up with some gold that just decays back into mercury in a few days. Sell it for a quick prank.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_gold

[–] BossDj@lemm.ee 26 points 1 year ago

I'm a third generation proton plucker myself. Some day, my children's children's children may have a good laugh when they finish this bar.

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you can find Hg 198 for sale actually. So if you're a morally pure alchemist you can make the stable isotope of gold

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

How much does isotopically pure ^(198)Hg cost though? I wouldn't be surprised if it was more expensive than gold...

[–] Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

More like put em all together and get even more gold

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Anybody have advice for shoving a bunch of protons together? I keep trying but they always fly away from each other.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Put some sugar on a magnet, that always works

[–] TheYear2525@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Just a spoon full of strong force helps the proton stay down

[–] Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago

Yeah just turn up the close nuclear forces a bit and they'll zoom right together

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

You have to hold them close for a little bit, and let those positrons vent away.

[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago

And all those alchemists were starting with lead. What idiots.

[–] Krukenberg@feddit.ch 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Rooty@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

It's a welcome break from deep fried and cropped porn memes.

[–] DefyTheLegends@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Not only that, but also extreme troll physics vibes. Just lacking magnets and tge question how they work.

[–] Malgas@beehaw.org 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

0.995 kg of gold and 5g of protium

Actually less than that because only around 10% of the gold created this way (assuming a natural distribution of Hg isotopes) would be stable, so you'd get a bunch of β particles too. I don't even know how Au-201 would act, and it would comprise 30% of the output.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

21 minute half life beta decay back to mercury.

[–] TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

half life beta

Half Life 3 confirmed alright

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[–] Nonononoki@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How many atoms does 1kg of mercury have?

[–] SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

30x10^23 atoms according to my calculations.

[–] nyoooom@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

So basically if you handle 1M atoms per second, it would take 95B years to process 1kg...

It's really hard to grasp those scales

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

3.0022×10^24 atoms, to be precise.

[–] MooseBoys@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What a troll - everyone knows if you transform Hg202 into Au201, it will immediately decay back into Hg201 while releasing about 606MJ of energy in the process.

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[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 8 points 1 year ago

He converted lead into gold and Euros into dollars.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago (8 children)

wait how has noone thought of this?

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 69 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah I think there were some folks who thought about splitting the atom right? I forget who.

Anyway, now I am become wealth, buyer of worlds.

[–] Chariotwheel@kbin.social 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you mean "no one". There is a wikihow guide on this: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Gold-from-Mercury

[–] steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Seems easy enough. Off to the nuclear reactor store to get started.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Aw man, all we have near us is IKEA.

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[–] octoperson@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago

Step two is fiddly

[–] Venutianxspring@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This was the idea by alchemy. They thought you could change one element into another. Lead to gold and so forth, but not so easy in medieval Europe

[–] Zehzin@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah they didn't have tweezers back then

[–] RandomStickman@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't be daft, of course they have tweezers back then.

They don't have plastic yet.

[–] LuckyBoy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

But eletricity didnt exist at the time, so no risk of being electrocuted.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you can make gold from platinum! however this is a net loss as platinum costs more

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

You can make gold from hydrogen too! Just gotta put enough of it into one place so it forms a large star, then wait for it to go supernova.

[–] Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah but it would cost more and take an exorbitant amount of time (like billions of years) to produce anything of value, let alone profit.

[–] eating3645@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Step 2 is expensive :( tweezers ain't cheap!

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] zepheriths@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Has that ever worked with mercury? I know I lt worked in a very small number of atoms (about 200) for lead and gold

[–] brisvag@feddit.nl 4 points 1 year ago

I love that the face is actually mirrored. 10/10

Dollar dollar bill y'all, get the money

[–] nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago

Fake. The resulting Au201 and Au199 will promptly turn back into mercury. But, if you instead pull of a few neutrons to make Hg197, it will decay in a few days to stable Au197, along with a free neutrino.

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