41–50 of 104 posts
It requires mercury-198 as an input. The only quote I could find for mercury-198 is about $15K per milligram. So now we just need to figure out how to make mercury-198 cheaply.
It requires mercury-198 as an input. The only quote I could find for mercury-198 is about $15K per milligram. So now we just need to figure out how to make mercury-198 cheaply.
The Washington monument capstone is aluminum because aluminum was expensive in 1884. Now we make beverage containers out of aluminum. (note: I have no intention of using gold for beverage containers... I like my skin not blue)
It requires mercury-198 as an input. The only quote I could find for mercury-198 is about $15K per milligram. So now we just need to figure out how to make mercury-198 cheaply.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_mercury
Since mercury forms vapor so easily, it should be easily enriched in gas centrifuges like uranium (more easily, actually, since the starting isotopic abundance is higher and the chemistry is simpler). The high price of purified mercury-198 at present is probably due to it being a scientific curiosity with no industrial demand.
> previously a […] PhD candidate in Plasma Physics at Princeton University The advice is generally not to advertise yourself as having been a PhD candidate: you're basically advertising that you couldn't complete a PhD. (Insert obligatory caveats about academia having problems, and failure to complete a PhD not implying that somebody is incapable.)
I think if you got three years into a PhD and were faced with the prospect of starting it all over again in another lab, it wouldn't take much to convince you to throw in the towel and do something else instead.
Actual industrial/product use of gold is less than 10%. A massive amount of gold is used for store of wealth. If gold became less scarce, it would be less expensive. The Washington monument capstone is aluminum because aluminum was expensive in 1884. Now we make beverage containers out of aluminum. (note: I have no intention of using gold for beverage containers... I like my skin not blue )
Isn't that problem just with silver, not gold?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The gold is a byproduct of generating the electricity. You still get to sell the electricity too.
Gold is atomically heavier than iron, fusing gold costs energy. The language in the article is ambiguous, but I believe the energy quoted is a cost.
Actual industrial/product use of gold is less than 10%. A massive amount of gold is used for store of wealth. If gold became less scarce, it would be less expensive. The Washington monument capstone is aluminum because aluminum was expensive in 1884. Now we make beverage containers out of aluminum. (note: I have no intention of using gold for beverage containers... I like my skin not blue )
I thought gold was biologically inert. Any chance you’re thinking of argyria, which is caused by exposure to elemental silver?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gold is atomically heavier than iron, fusing gold costs energy. The language in the article is ambiguous, but I believe the energy quoted is a cost.
It's produced from mercury
A star’s fusion reaction ceases when too much of its core turns to iron.
It requires mercury-198 as an input. The only quote I could find for mercury-198 is about $15K per milligram. So now we just need to figure out how to make mercury-198 cheaply.