Startup Claims Its Fusion Reactor Concept Can Turn Cheap Mercury Into Gold

Comments

• Gladaed@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ 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.

  source
• FauxPseudo@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Image

  source
• Atropos@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  “But it’s worth noting that the same process would likely result in the production of unstable and potentially radioactive isotopes of gold. As such, Rutkowski admitted, the gold would have to be stored for 14 to 18 years before it could be labeled radiation-safe.”

  Ah yes, 18-year vintage, very nice choice. Pairs well with a 3 carat lab grown diamond!

  source

  • Wazowski@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    Just sell politicians the 14-year vintage, they love that.

    source
  • chirospasm@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    It’s only irradiated gold if it comes from the Radioactive Startup Part of San Fransisco.

    Otherwise, it’s just sparkling rock.

    source

    • elucubra@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      No, my friend. Gold is an incredibly useful material, often not used because of price, unlike diamonds, which are mostly useful for abrasion/cutting.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • ch00f@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    This is like a reverse Goldfinger plan. Could have an interesting impact on the gold market if it can be done at scale.

    I’m sure most gold mining operations take at least a few years to get permitted and started and then there’s risk that you won’t find as much gold as expected.

    Compared to a lump of gold that all you have to do is not lose it and it will appreciate in value all on its own.

    source

    • orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      “All you have to do is find it.”

      The value of gold is not just in its properties, luster, purity, etc., but also in the effort it takes to find or mine it. So, sure. Trip over a nugget and you’re…golden.

      The same concept can be loosely applied to the abstraction of crypto currency. It takes energy and computational effort to acquire if you don’t just buy it.

      source
    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Could have an interesting impact on the gold market if it can be done at scale.

      Before figuring that out, they just need to develop a functioning fusion reactor. And since fusion energy is, as it has always been, a mere ten years off, it’s probable that such reactors will take longer to be developed than it will take that radioactive gold to be safe to handle.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I was wondering how radioactive the resulting material would be. Twenty years is totally viable for a power plant.

    source
• Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  any particle accelerator can do that just incredibly slowly.

  Alchemy of that sort has been doable for generations, it’s just WILDLY impractical!

  source

  • Stovetop@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Currently many orders of magnitude more expensive than just buying an equivalent amount of gold, but makes me wonder what the future might be capable of with those proofs of concept.

    Science circling back around to alchemy is an interesting thought.

    source

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Humans sometimes run out of things to want.

      source
    • Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      If it is possible to make small amounts of those elements on purpose as a byproduct, it can help to offset the costs of the reactor in some small way and help with isotopic/nuclear research in general. But that can be done in pretty much any fusion reactor design to some degree.

      As for Alchemy of the future, If in a thousand years we can just built whatever materials we need (including potential ultra heavy stable elements) from raw subatomic particles we don’t even need mining, just gather up some hydrogen/helium from space and transmute it into whatever you need. food, fuel, structures, etc.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • ClanOfTheOcho@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I admit, it wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card, either.

      source
• MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Good to see Gargamel following his dreams.

  source
• Etterra@discuss.online ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  So do it. Crash the economy, rip that bandaid right off.

  source
• aviationeast@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  In theory but can they do it efficiently. Probably not. And definitely not yet. But hey let them get the fool’s money.

  source

  • Sabin10@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I read up on this the other day and their claims are 8 tons produced per gigawatt of energy consumed. Even if they manage a quarter. Of that, it’s enough to obliterate the value of gold. I doubt this will actuary go anywhere either way but it would be nice to see.

    source

    • antler@feddit.online ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      This article says (5 tonnes/yr) per GW produced. It's a fusion reactor, so it's making electricity, not consuming it.

      At $0.05/kWh, 1 GWh of electricity is $438 million. At $3400/troy ounce, 5 tonnes of gold is $545 million. So that jives with the company's estimate on the article that the sale of gold could double their revenue.

      All bunk, of course

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • SheeEttin@lemmy.zip ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      That’s an enormous amount!

      Most of the value of gold these days is its use in electronics, and jewelery. I’m fine with it being made cheap and plentiful. Anyone holding gold (or gold-backed investments) as opposition to other types of investments is going to see a big loss, but that’s what they bought into.

      source
• Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Alchemy you say? Take my money now, I’ll ask questions later. Glad we got in on this before the peer review!

  source

  • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Kings dont fund science, Kings fund alchemy!

    USA USA USA …

    source
  • EnsignWashout@startrek.website ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I’ll wait and see if they can add some AI to it. But if they can, I’ll invest my entire life savings.

    source
• TachyonTele@piefed.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  The search for the philosophers stone never ended.

  source

  • QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I really think I’m close, I just need to distill a little more urine

    source
• ileftreddit@piefed.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  If we can actually do nuclear transmutation, that’s like one step away from a Star Trek replicator

  source

  • dubyakay@lemmy.ca ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    6.4L of air produces 1 cm^3^ of iron. I guess that’s not that bad. It’s like three people filling their lungs with air.

    source
• LovableSidekick@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  When they can do transparent aluminum, I’m in!

  source

  • Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Aluminium Oxide (Al~2~O~3~) can be crystal clear too, it’s just Sapphire, I have a chunk of it on my wrist right now, looks pretty clear to me, and almost as hard as a diamond.

    source
  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Transparent aluminum was around in 2018 source

    source

    • Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      a lot longer than that.

      Synthetic corundum, spinel and others have been around for over 120 years, and optically transparent uncoloured sapphire glass for over 80 years. They are just aluminium oxides.

      ALON is just the new hotness, and not as good as some others in terms of visible light transparency.

      source
  • Godort@lemmy.ca ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    That’s already a thing

    source
• ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  How do I invest?!?!?!

  source