The manufacture of gold from other elements, long the dream of practical alchemists, became real with the advent of the atomic age. According to the stories the material transformed was lead, but in reality the process works better with mercury, particularly the mercury-196 isotope which makes up about ten percent of naturally occurring mercury. And it's easy, too - if you have a nuclear reactor on hand. Just stick some mercury in the reactor for about a day, and it transforms. Just like magic!
I know what you're thinking - just put enough mercury in the reactor, and you can make the process more efficient. But the problem is that as the amount goes up, so does the necessary energy and every reactor has hard limits there. So the alchemists were right that it could be done, but apparently quite wrong that it could be done inexpensively. I suppose if we lived in a technologically modern age that maintained the feudal structure of the Renaissance, a noble could just build their own reactor and get to work. But that still would require so many resources that it would be impractical to make enough gold to ever justify the expense.
Years ago I posted a speculative article about this process of transforming mercury into gold. What I was wondering back then was whether or not it might have been possible to create even tinier amounts of gold through this process using Renaissance technology. It sounds a little silly at first, but I'm convinced that a makeshift nuclear vessel could be constructed simply by someone with access to highly radioactive material such as radium. It wouldn't be at all safe, but it might be able to concentrate enough radiation to extract some gold - and anyone seeing such a transformation might erroneously assume that the process could be scaled up to commercial quantities.
The key word there is might. Since I'm not a nuclear scientist, I don't know whether or not it's even remotely possible. There's certainly no evidence that it was ever done, such as irradiated lab equipment dating to the period. I also wonder about the magical properties of such manufactured gold. Would they be the same as for the naturally appearing substance, or would they somehow be altered by having gone through the manufacturing process? I imagine it would be pretty cool to have temple implements made from such "alchemical gold," but until I become independently wealthy there's no way that's going to happen given the cost.
The Philosopher’s Stone is the idea that you could have a magical material that could turn lead, or some very inexpensive metal, into gold. For thousands of years, kings sought out this mythical device, one that could create gold out of common metals. Scientists and alchemists for centuries have been trying to invent one. Even Sir Isaac Newton obsessed over the mystery of the Philosopher’s Stone in the 17th century. However, the English feared the potential devaluation of gold and made the practice of alchemy punishable by death.
Fast forward now a few centuries to present day Irvine. According to Michael Dennin, a professor at UCI, gold is formed due to nuclear reactions, similar to those occurring in the sun. And now, since scientists can produce controlled nuclear reactions, scientists have the ability to manufacture gold from other elements. Michael’s colleague, Dr. A.J. Shaka, conducts experiments in alchemy on a daily basis.
Mercury 196, an isotope that can pick up a neutron, is placed in a nuclear reactor, and after 23 hours, it turns to gold. A real life Philosopher’s Stone at our university! However, a days’ worth of nuclear reactions will create 3/10 of a cent worth of gold but costs $200 per hour to operate the reactor. You’ll be far in the hole.
I know what you're thinking - just put enough mercury in the reactor, and you can make the process more efficient. But the problem is that as the amount goes up, so does the necessary energy and every reactor has hard limits there. So the alchemists were right that it could be done, but apparently quite wrong that it could be done inexpensively. I suppose if we lived in a technologically modern age that maintained the feudal structure of the Renaissance, a noble could just build their own reactor and get to work. But that still would require so many resources that it would be impractical to make enough gold to ever justify the expense.
Years ago I posted a speculative article about this process of transforming mercury into gold. What I was wondering back then was whether or not it might have been possible to create even tinier amounts of gold through this process using Renaissance technology. It sounds a little silly at first, but I'm convinced that a makeshift nuclear vessel could be constructed simply by someone with access to highly radioactive material such as radium. It wouldn't be at all safe, but it might be able to concentrate enough radiation to extract some gold - and anyone seeing such a transformation might erroneously assume that the process could be scaled up to commercial quantities.
The key word there is might. Since I'm not a nuclear scientist, I don't know whether or not it's even remotely possible. There's certainly no evidence that it was ever done, such as irradiated lab equipment dating to the period. I also wonder about the magical properties of such manufactured gold. Would they be the same as for the naturally appearing substance, or would they somehow be altered by having gone through the manufacturing process? I imagine it would be pretty cool to have temple implements made from such "alchemical gold," but until I become independently wealthy there's no way that's going to happen given the cost.
All right man, you've tempted me into commenting. lol
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to say anything specific. In fact I don't know much in the way of specifics. I've never looked deeply into this, as I always felt like it was something that the Illuminati would consider rude. After all as you state, the British were concerned it might destabilize the economy. And look what is happening to Putin right now with oil prices.
But there are a few things I could suggest.
First of all, if we have an "overunity" or "free energy" system, that by definition is automatically "better" than efficient. The expense would not matter, as long as we could start it going.
Secondly Reich (COSMIC SUPERIMPOSITION) outlines the creation of matter from pure energy. We might compare it to the creation of a "magickal child." Two (or more) streams of orgone superimpose, and create matter. Material substance.
This of course has implications for consciousness, because at what point do we say a river is a THING, and at what point do we say it is an EVENT, unfolding in time. In essence, there are no THINGS in the universe, only events. "Materiality" is a psychological, or we might say "phenomenological" phenomenon. lol
So if we are to superimpose energies, the question is, what type of energies do we combine to produce gold? How does gold (and other minerals) form in the earth? Does it involve *gasp* ley lines!?
Oh yeah. John Bedini talks about this in either the first or second ENERGY FROM THE VACUUM videos. He was making some sort of electronics compenents out of granite rocks, firing them in a kiln. He says that small amounts of gold were produced. I don't know if there is anything to this or not, but if there is, Bedini is unlikely to be telling us the whole story. He would be likely to leave out certain factors. But who knows? I had a kiln at my disposal for a short time, but I never availed myself of it.
Iirc, there are alot of minerals and substances that are formed in trace amounts in "cold fusion" reactions. I don't regard this as actual fusion at all, but merely drawing energy from the "zero point" field. As Reich would say, the "mass free substratum from which particles arise" on the subatomic level.
After all, energy is "more primordial" than matter. There are no "things," per se.
NOTE: I am aware that none of this is scientific.
Matter can be made from energy, at least in small amounts, even according to conventional science. You currently need a particle accelerator to do it, which suggests that the process would be even less efficient than the mercury/nuclear reactor method.
ReplyDeleteIf you have access to something akin to vacuum energy you can do all sorts of interesting things. According to the math and so forth it should be possible, but I have yet to see a convincing device that can extract it.
The father of an old friend of mine is an engineer who worked with researchers at the University of Minnesota on cold fusion when Pons and Fleischmann first published their results. Their conclusion was that the device worked as claimed, but only if the palladium was pure enough to form a metallic crystal.
The thought experiment that led to the original device assumes this. Hydrogen ions get pulled into the lattice structure, which by its geometry forces them close together to create fusion. But getting palladium that pure is challenging.
They found that this was so dependent on micro-impurities in the metal that even if you took sections from the same spool of palladium wire one would work and another wouldn't. But if one worked, it would continue to do so.
But it's also true that this has a lot in common with "vacuum welding," which is the only process we currently are aware of that is known to exploit zero point energy.