• orclev@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    No it won’t. This is not even remotely cost effective both in terms of time and energy. You could literally collect more gold in a fraction of the time by just panning in a stream. There’s also the slight complication that the “gold” produced in this manner is basically atomic buckshot and ceases to exist very quickly after it’s formed.

    TL;DR: this is making gold out of lead in only the most technical way, you don’t actually end up with any gold at the end of this process. You could just as easily claim you’re making x-rays out of lead using this same process.

    • Lit@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      24 hours ago

      Well, long time ago many people similar to you said that the carbon crystal called diamond won’t be made in factory. They once also said various isotopes and elements won’t be made in factory/reactor.

      Not talking about this, current tech, but in the future. It will go the same path as diamond manufacturing. Technology does improve over time, just like it improved over time until we are making diamonds in factories cheaply.

      Some companies already make new elements and isotopes in reactors as a business. These new elements and isotopes are being used in various applications. We will eventually be making gold it is just matter of time and tech.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        21 hours ago

        The far more likely scenario is that large quantities of gold are extracted from the asteroid belt. Short of someone inventing a Star Trek style replicator it just won’t ever be cost effective to create something like gold through manipulation of individual atoms. Even if we had that tech in a reasonable cost effective form it would be used for making actually rare elements not something as abundant as gold.

        • Lit@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          13 hours ago

          Yes, you are right. Gold will be made in factory reactors, but those reactors may be used to make/supply other more profitable elements based on industrial demand.