But this reactor turns mercury into gold, and is meant to produce power.
Comment on Startup Claims Its Fusion Reactor Concept Can Turn Cheap Mercury Into Gold
Gladaed@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
This is stupid, but not for the reasons you would think.
The energy required to change lead into gold is bigger than their difference in price.
Allero@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
Gladaed@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
Mhhh. Would have to check the binding energy per nucleon charts. Might work. I automatically read lead.
buddascrayon@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
LoL, why else would they be publishing a paper on the process rather than buying an absolute ton of mercury and manufacturing gold like mad?
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago
Because they have to build a full scale reactor first. That’s expensive.
The way this usually works is that you do the research, get a patent on it, license that out, and then capitalists pretend they invented the whole thing themselves and deserve all the profits.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
And fusion doesn’t work yet. May be 20+ years away for 20+ more years.
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago
The whole point of the paper is that limitation has been breached. The fusion plant would primarily create electricity, and gold is a profitable byproduct.
It’s not out of peer review, though.