Gold synthesis
From Freepedia
Gold synthesis is the age-old dream of the alchemists, the artificial production of gold. It is possible in particle accelerators or nuclear reactors, but in practice much too expensive. Since there is only one stable gold isotope, Au-197, nuclear reactions must create this isotope in order to produce gold. It is therefore not possible to distinguish stable, artificially produced gold from natural gold.
Gold synthesis in an accelerator
Gold synthesis in a particle accelerator is possible in many ways. Since particle accelerators use much energy, and the effiencies are small, the use of particle accelerators is for this generally unsuitable.
Gold synthesis in a nuclear reactor
In a nuclear reactor gold can be manufactured by irradiation of platinum or mercury. Since platinum is more expensive than gold, platinum is economically unsuitable as raw material. Only the mercury isotope Hg-196, which is an amount of 0.15% in natural mercury, can be converted to gold by neutron capture and following K+- decay into Au-197 with slow neutrons. Other mercury isotopes are converted when irradiated with slow neutrons into one another or formed mercury isotopes, which beta decay into thallium. Using fast neutrons, the mercury isotope Hg-198, which is contained to 9.97% in natural mercury, can be converted by splitting off a neutron and becoming Hg-197, which then disintegrates to stable gold. This reaction, however, possesses a smaller activation cross-section and is feasible only with unmoderated reactors. It is also possible to eject several neutrons with very high energy into the other mercury isotopes in order to get the Hg-197. However such high-energy neutrons can be produced only by particle accelerators.
Gold synthesis in nuclear reactors does not have an economic impact because of its low efficiency and high cost, although in the 50's a small quantity of gold was produced by irradiation of mercury in an atomic reactor for demonstration purposes in the United States.
