this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
654 points (95.9% liked)

Science Memes

10885 readers
5108 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Fleur__ 138 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This doesn't work because it will also make hydrogen gas that will take up the air in the area you are in causing you to suffocate. I lost a very close friend to this please don't spread misinformation online.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's why I just buy Gadolinium and slice each atom in half!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Huh? Wouldn't that just give you two radioactive isotopes of germanium? (^(154)Gd/2 = ^(77)Ge > ^(76)Ge)

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

With the right equipment, you can capture the hydrogen and use it to power your hydrogen fuel cell car. So not only do you get free gold, you get free fuel for your car as well.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

You just have to go slowly and next to the window

[–] Zehzin 80 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I think you'll lose like 5 grams from the protons, more cause you might have to remove a couple of neutrons?

[–] [email protected] 80 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

That's the fun part. If you take just one proton off, you'll often end up with some gold that just decays back into mercury in a few days. Sell it for a quick prank.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_gold

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

I'm a third generation proton plucker myself. Some day, my children's children's children may have a good laugh when they finish this bar.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you can find Hg 198 for sale actually. So if you're a morally pure alchemist you can make the stable isotope of gold

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

How much does isotopically pure ^(198)Hg cost though? I wouldn't be surprised if it was more expensive than gold...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

More like put em all together and get even more gold

[–] pennomi 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Anybody have advice for shoving a bunch of protons together? I keep trying but they always fly away from each other.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Put some sugar on a magnet, that always works

[–] TheYear2525 13 points 1 year ago

Just a spoon full of strong force helps the proton stay down

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Yeah just turn up the close nuclear forces a bit and they'll zoom right together

[–] marcos 5 points 1 year ago

You have to hold them close for a little bit, and let those positrons vent away.

[–] doublejay1999 47 points 1 year ago

And all those alchemists were starting with lead. What idiots.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Rooty 12 points 1 year ago

It's a welcome break from deep fried and cropped porn memes.

[–] DefyTheLegends 6 points 1 year ago

Not only that, but also extreme troll physics vibes. Just lacking magnets and tge question how they work.

[–] Nonononoki 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How many atoms does 1kg of mercury have?

[–] SmoothIsFast 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

30x10^23 atoms according to my calculations.

[–] nyoooom 25 points 1 year ago

So basically if you handle 1M atoms per second, it would take 95B years to process 1kg...

It's really hard to grasp those scales

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

3.0022×10^24 atoms, to be precise.

[–] MooseBoys 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What a troll - everyone knows if you transform Hg202 into Au201, it will immediately decay back into Hg201 while releasing about 606MJ of energy in the process.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

He converted lead into gold and Euros into dollars.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (7 children)

wait how has noone thought of this?

[–] [email protected] 67 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah I think there were some folks who thought about splitting the atom right? I forget who.

Anyway, now I am become wealth, buyer of worlds.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you mean "no one". There is a wikihow guide on this: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Gold-from-Mercury

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Seems easy enough. Off to the nuclear reactor store to get started.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Step two is fiddly

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This was the idea by alchemy. They thought you could change one element into another. Lead to gold and so forth, but not so easy in medieval Europe

[–] Zehzin 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah they didn't have tweezers back then

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't be daft, of course they have tweezers back then.

They don't have plastic yet.

[–] LuckyBoy 5 points 1 year ago

But eletricity didnt exist at the time, so no risk of being electrocuted.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you can make gold from platinum! however this is a net loss as platinum costs more

[–] pennomi 11 points 1 year ago

You can make gold from hydrogen too! Just gotta put enough of it into one place so it forms a large star, then wait for it to go supernova.

[–] Pregnenolone 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah but it would cost more and take an exorbitant amount of time (like billions of years) to produce anything of value, let alone profit.

[–] eating3645 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Step 2 is expensive :( tweezers ain't cheap!

[–] homesweethomeMrL 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Where am I gonna get a pygmy pony at this hour?

[–] Fleur__ 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They have they all died tho cos it makes hydrogen gas and the die and suffocate please like to spread awareness

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

just hold your breath ???

[–] zepheriths 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Has that ever worked with mercury? I know I lt worked in a very small number of atoms (about 200) for lead and gold

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I love that the face is actually mirrored. 10/10

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Dollar dollar bill y'all, get the money

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Fake. The resulting Au201 and Au199 will promptly turn back into mercury. But, if you instead pull of a few neutrons to make Hg197, it will decay in a few days to stable Au197, along with a free neutrino.

load more comments
view more: next ›