Is there any possibility to obtain gold as a product of nuclear reaction of any

1. 75

   pedagogposted 11 years ago

   Is there any possibility to obtain gold as a product of nuclear reaction of any radioactive element?
   
   Fission products of uranium and plutonium are
   1) Germanium-72, 73, 74, 76
   2) Arsenic-75
   3) Selenium-77, 78, 79, 80, 82
   4) Bromine-81
   5) Krypton-83, 84, 85, 86
   6) Rubidium-85, 87
   7) Strontium-88, 89, 90
   8) Yttrium-89
   9) Zirconium-90 to 96
   10) Niobium-95
   11) Molybdenum-95, 97, 98, 100
   12) Technetium-99
   13) Ruthenium-101 to 106
   14) Rhodium-103
   15) Palladium-105 to 110
   16) Silver-109
   17) Cadmium-111 to 116
   18) Indium-115
   19) Tin-117 to 126
   20) Antimony-121, 123
   21) Tellurium-125, 127 to 132
   22 Iodine-127, 129, 131
   23 Xenon-131 to 136
   24 Caesium-133, 134, 135, 137
   25 Barium-138, 139
   26 Lanthanides

   replyreport
2. 60

   Btryon86posted 11 years ago

   Nuclear fusion can create gold. However, gold is usually produced by fusion in high mass stars that die in supernovae, scattering the heavy elements they have created throughout the universe. The amount of power required to simulate this type of nuclear fusion is astronomical, meaning it is unlikely that earth nuclear reactors will be able to produce enough power to create more than minute amounts of gold. Fission could also create gold from radioactive elements, but again, the amount of gold would be minute.

   replyreport
   1. 75

      pedagogposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      thanks a lot, i learned new thing. But i don't believe its not possible in fission.

      replyreport
   2. 60

      Btryon86posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Oh it is entriely possible with fission. It's just that there's only only stable isotope of gold, so you'd have to produce only that isotope in order to get real results.

      replyreport
3. 75

   pedagogposted 11 years ago

   Since there is only one stable gold isotope, 197Au, nuclear reactions must create this isotope in order to produce usable gold.
   
   Gold synthesis in a particle accelerator is possible in many ways. The Spallation Neutron Source has a liquid mercury target that will be transmuted into gold, platinum, and iridium, which are lower in atomic number.[citation needed]
   
   Gold was first synthesized from mercury by neutron bombardment in 1941, but the isotopes of gold produced were all radioactive.
   Gold can currently be manufactured in a nuclear reactor by irradiation either of platinum or mercury.
   Only the mercury isotope 196Hg, which occurs with a frequency of 0.15% in natural mercury, can be converted to gold by neutron capture, and following electron capture-decay into 197Au with slow neutrons. Other mercury isotopes are converted when irradiated with slow neutrons into one another or formed mercury isotopes, which beta decay into thallium.
   Using fast neutrons, the mercury isotope 198Hg, which composes 9.97% of natural mercury, can be converted by splitting off a neutron and becoming 197Hg, which then disintegrates to stable gold. This reaction, however, possesses a smaller activation cross-section and is feasible only with un-moderated reactors.
   It is also possible to eject several neutrons with very high energy into the other mercury isotopes in order to form 197Hg. However such high-energy neutrons can be produced only by particle accelerators

   replyreport
   1. 60

      Btryon86posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly, so while it is difficult to create the stable isotope of gold, it IS possible.

      replyreport