Gold
Chrysopoeia, the artificial production of gold is the symbolic goal of alchemists. Alchemists often understood this as a metaphor for a mystical, philosophical, psychological, medical, or religious transformation. Despite this, some alchemists interpreted this literally, and attempted to physically transmute base metals into gold. It is possible in particle accelerators or nuclear reactors, although the production cost is currently many times the market price of gold. Since there is only one stable gold isotope, 197Au, nuclear reactions must create this isotope in order to produce usable gold.
Read more about this topic: Synthesis Of Precious Metals
Famous quotes containing the word gold:
“We are educated in the grossest ignorance, and no art omitted to stifle our natural reason; if some few get above their nurses’ instructions, our knowledge must rest concealed and be as useless to the world as gold in the mine.”
—Mary Wortley, Lady Montagu (1689–1762)