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Posted on 07/28/2025 4:40:49 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
A Silicon Valley startup claims it can turn mercury into gold.
San Francisco, California-based Marathon Fusion is proposing a process that uses nuclear fusion to turn mercury into gold — something that has been sought by people for thousands of years.
"Unlike previous attempts, our method is massively scalable, pragmatically achievable, and economically irresistible," Marathon Fusion said on its website.
"Using our approach, power plants can generate five thousand kilograms of gold per year, per gigawatt of electricity generation (~2.5 GWth), without any compromise to fuel self-sufficiency or power output."
In a Cornell University scientific paper submitted July 17, Marathon Fusion said it's possible to use high-energy neutrons from a fusion reactor to bombard mercury-198, turning it into mercury-197, which then decays into stable gold-197 over a matter of days.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
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I don't know that much about nuclear physics but then alchemists have been chasing the translation of lead to gold for centuries.
I’m the queen of England.
I’m starting a company that can spin hay in to gold.
Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty!
2.5 GWth— Back To The Future.
Mercury and gold appear next to each other in the periodic table, and differ by one proton (80 - 79)
Nothing like increasing the money supply by five thousand kilograms of gold per year. Which would result in five thousand kilograms of inflation per year.
not as impressive as spinning straw into gold.
“I’m the queen of England.”
What are your pronouns?
(P, 2P)
But can they turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse?
Rumplestiltskin!
Oh no. You’re not supposed to say that!
If this is true, it would mean the value of gold would go to nothing almost instantly. And the value of mercury to soar.
The reaction theoretically reduces the cost of operating a fusion reactor because it produces gold from mercury as part of the reaction process. It would help hold down the price of gold, but probably would not reduce it to zero.
yes, its quite easy.
First, get yourself a fusion reactor.....
My chemistry teacher said that it was believed by some that is how France always seems to have gold to sell.
Are they a publicly traded company?
Current gold price is $106 per gram. So they would cut the gold price in half at best. At worst they would have higher power and overhead costs.
Jack has magic beans again I see.
That’s what makes it seem plausible. But has Hg 198 ever been observed to decay to stable Au 197?
Here is what Copilot AI says:
Not naturally, no. Mercury-198 (^198Hg) does not decay into gold-197 (^197Au) under normal conditions. In fact, ^198Hg is a stable isotope, meaning it doesn’t undergo radioactive decay at all.
However, there’s a fascinating twist! A recent study by a startup called Marathon Fusion claims that ^198Hg can be transmuted into ^197Au using neutron bombardment inside a fusion reactor. Here’s how it works:
⚛️ The Proposed Transmutation Process
- Step 1: Fast neutrons hit ^198Hg, converting it into unstable ^197Hg.
- Step 2: ^197Hg then undergoes beta decay with a half-life of ~64 hours, turning into stable ^197Au.
- This process is part of a broader fusion energy concept that could produce gold as a byproduct.
🧪 Reality Check
- This method has only been demonstrated in simulations, not in practical experiments.
- It’s not economically viable yet, and the resulting gold would need to “cool” for years before it’s safe to use due to residual radioactivity.
So while ^198Hg doesn’t decay into ^197Au on its own, with a bit of nuclear wizardry, it might be coaxed into doing so. Alchemists would be proud.
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