High School Turning Elements into other Elements

[ItchyFungus]

I think you are missing the point that while we do have the technology to transmute elements,
in most cases it costs more to do that than it does to just mine stuff.
Sadly the most effective use of the available technology so far has been for plutonium production, most of which is for nuclear bombs.
Plutonium does not occur at all naturally, so it cannot be mined.

No I see the point. I just ask to see all the connections and continue to probe further until it comes to a complete stalt. It's just how my mind works lol. The point is the cost, current technology, and current knowledge of splitting and rearranging atoms. I say current because I don't know what the future will discover, but trust me the point is made lol.

 

[ItchyFungus]

If any of you see patterns in questions from people that relate perhaps you guys can create or direct individuals like myself to those pages or videos this way you don't feel aggravated by the questions. This only pertains to people who may get frustrated, but if you like giving knowledge this may not bother you. Just an idea on my behalf.

 

[snorkack]

There is a problem throwing protons or any other nuclei at nuclei - and that's Coulomb barrier.
Most of time, a proton either simply bounces back, and the energy is lost as heat, or else also emits a x-ray, and energy is also lost as heat, until the proton slows down and will cause no reaction.
Whereas neutrons are uncharged. Send a neutron into a matter - it often bounces back, but it's still a neutron. Eventually it will cause a nuclear reaction, with the sole exception of very pure helium 4.
Say, transmute mercury into gold?
Easy.
Mercury consists of 7 stable isotopes. 196, 198-202, and 204.
Since 198-202 are all stable, sending neutrons at mercury 198 to 201 will produce pure energy - which is not waste because that's the heat output of the reactor.
Mercury 202 and 204 are transmuted into thallium, and 196 into gold.
Now, the composition of mercury is:

1. 196 - 0,15 %
2. 198 - 10 %
3. 199 - 17 %
4. 200 - 23 %
5. 201 - 13 %
6. 202 - 30 %
7. 204 - 7 %

Mercury 196 is scarce... but fortunately, the neutron cross-sections of mercury isotopes are not equal.
They are:

1. 196 - 3200
2. 198 - 2
3. 199 - 2150
4. 200 - 1,4
5. 201 - 7,8
6. 202 - 5
7. 204 - 0,43

Now, what's the fractional cross-section of each?

1. 196 - 4,8
2. 198 - 0,2
3. 199 - 360
4. 200 - 0,32
5. 201 - 1,0
6. 202 - 1,5
7. 204 - 0,03

So - an overwhelming majority (360 barns) of neutrons will produce heat in mercury 199. The other 6 isotopes have a combined cross-section of 7,8 barns - slightly over 2 % of total - of which 4,8 barns produce gold, 1,5 barns produce thallium and 1,5 barns produce also heat.
Mercury boils at 360 degrees, gold at 3000 degrees and thallium at 1500 degrees. So in the boiler, mercury boils and powers the turbines, while gold cannot boil and is collected.
Mercury cooled reactor can work, despite the high cross-section - as proven by Clementine.
However, it is not clear how effective mercury cooled reactors are, compared to other reactors which do not produce gold.

 

[ItchyFungus]

But from what someone stated earlier is mercury is limited. It is possible, but it's limited, and one will need a lot of mercury to just obtain an ounce of gold. I mean we will have to find a planet made of mercury at that point, but if you're just trying to make the point of it's possible then you're totally right. As someone else also stated "it's possible not practical".

Here is what I was thinking on manipulation of frequencies, if the only method is to slam particles into each other to produce a mass amount of energy in exchange with new atoms then we are better off at probing planets with the elements and compounds already created.

However, if it's possible to manipulate vibration and frequency of anything, then perhaps this can create something out of nothing all by mere frequency. Now how is this possible no clue, this is just pure thought without any knowledge on physics to achieve it.

 

[DrClaude]

However, if it's possible to manipulate vibration and frequency of anything, then perhaps this can create something out of nothing all by mere frequency. Now how is this possible no clue, this is just pure thought without any knowledge on physics to achieve it.

In other words, pseudoscientific nonsense. We do not discuss such things here at PF; please have a look at the forum rules.

This thread has run its course. Time to lock.