What is metal transmutation

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What is metal transmutation
What is metal transmutation
Anonim

Once upon a time, when chemistry had not yet reached the level of science, there was a strong belief that there was a substance in nature - a real philosopher's stone that would turn all low metals into gold. Phenomena equally remarkable are known to have occurred and still occur daily, in the experience of every chemist.

Transmutation circle from alchemy
Transmutation circle from alchemy

Transmutation of metals in the representation of alchemists

The term transmutation goes back to alchemy. Alchemists were looking for a philosopher's stone capable of transmuting metals - turning base metals into gold. Although alchemists often understood it as a metaphor for a mystical or religious process, some practitioners preferred a literal interpretation and attempted to make gold through a physical experiment.

The impossibility of physical transmutation of metals into gold has been discussed among alchemists, philosophers and scientists since the Middle Ages. Pseudo-alchemical transmutation has been outlawed and publicly derided sincefourteenth century. Alchemists such as Michael Mayer and Heinrich Hunrath wrote treatises exposing the fraudulent claims of pseudo-alchemists.

By the 1720s, there were no longer any respectable figures pursuing the physical transmutation of substances into gold. No one was interested in how to make metal transmutation, because faith in this medieval miracle had finally faded away. Antoine Lavoisier in the 18th century replaced the alchemical theory of the elements with the modern theory of the chemical elements, and John D alton developed the concept of atoms (from the alchemical theory of corpuscles) to explain various chemical processes. The disintegration of atoms is a separate process involving much greater energies than can be achieved by alchemists.

alchemical experience
alchemical experience

The alchemist, not knowing anything about the elements, considered low metals as containing the same elemental substance as gold, but possessing impurities that they had not yet learned to separate from them. The late Professor Faraday professed his belief in the possibility of transmutation and even claimed that he experimented with the aim of discovering a method by which it could be accomplished.

Transmute elements

Charcoal and diamond are equally considered allotropic forms of carbon, because all chemical science has been able to do so far is show that they contain the stuff we call carbon. Do I need to prove that carbon is a compound. That this is not a compound seems, according to all existing knowledge, impossible to prove. But carbon is not alone in its manifestation of this remarkable property. Sulfur, phosphorus, silicon, boron, oxygen, belong to the same category. Ammonium, known as a compound, also has a metal character, most evident when combined with mercury.

This fact should have influenced the restoration of faith in the possibility of the transformation of metals. We are undoubtedly on the eve of great discoveries. The attention of chemists was constantly diverted from the study of inorganic chemistry by the alluring field of organic research, from which the richest and most fruitful of knowledge had already been obtained. Research into the real cause of the phenomena of allotropism, which is considered promising, and the discovery of this cause would mark the beginning of a new era in science.

turning into gold
turning into gold

Soul Transmutation

However, in order to go further into the secrets of nature, one must know the alchemical understanding of the transmutation of metals, expressed through beautiful symbolism and figurative descriptions. It should be primarily about the seven metals of the alchemists and their transmutation.

Of course, this immediately makes us wonder if we can actually transmute lead into gold. Paracelsus wrote that you don't transmute anything if you can't transmute yourself first. This tells us that there must be a connection between the inner and outer world. In fact, it is said that the production of metallic gold through the transmutation of a lower metal was associated with alchemy as evidence of a transfiguration made possible by God himself. It was a signthat he realized the Gold in himself. But in order to discover the gold in oneself, one must first know what the inner metals are. History knows examples of famous transmutations - Papus, Cagliostro and many mysterious magicians of the past are considered examples of a soul change that allegedly allowed them to gain immortality.

Alchemy differs from profane chemistry in its metaphysics. An order of consciousness that transcends the senses, resulting in an initiatory transmutation of human consciousness. The wonderful analogous correspondences between the transmutation of metals and the transfiguration of the mind of the persistent alchemist are more than just symbolic - they make the phenomenon itself look quite real.

Planetary Correspondence

There is an ancient old alchemical concept of specific correspondences, where a specific metal belonged to a specific planet. That is, metallic lead belonged to Saturn, tin to Jupiter, iron to Mars, silver to the Moon, copper to Venus, mercury to Mercury, and gold to the Sun. This alchemical concept states that the planets govern their respective metals on Earth. How can the planets rule our metals? Can they really affect the Earth? If the planets affect metals here on Earth, do they also have a physical effect on you and me?

Transmutation today

Although scientists still do not know how to study the transmutation of metal, nuclear physicists have learned to do something similar with radioactive substances that quickly decay. Transmutation reactions occur in two classes. First class reactionsleads to a large number of products with a large number of numbers in the formulas, these may involve the formation of a heavy compound nucleus, which can decay and split into various elements. The second class of reactions gives individual isolated products directly, without an intermediate.

These "cold" or low-energy transmutation reactions are extremely easy to achieve compared to conventional "hot" nuclear reactions that are supposed to occur in stars or supernova explosions, or only at millions of degrees Celsius.

By 2003, transmutation experiments had been studied in detail by more than 14 separate laboratories around the world: Peking University and Tsinghua University in China, Lab des Sciences Nucleaire in France, Frascati Laboratory and Lice University in Italy, Hokkaido University, Mitsubishi Corporation, Osaka University and Shizuoka University in Japan, Luch Research Complex, Tomsk Polytechnic University in Russia, University of Portland USA, Texas A&M University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in USA.

The minimum requirement for transmutation is a metal hydride film or membrane filled with hydrogen or deuterium to a high level and maintained at a constant flow. Required electrode materials range from carbon, nickel to uranium. The metal hydride can be loaded by electrolysis of water using a thin film of metal as a cathode, or deuterium gas can be passed through a metal membrane by injectinggas on one side and releasing it on the other. But a wide variety of experimental conditions have been used to initiate or accelerate reactions, including plasma electrolysis, plasma discharge, laser initiation, and external electric or magnetic fields.

George Miley's team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States is one of the main groups involved in transmutation. They used multi-layer thin-film nickel, palladium or titanium sputter coated on polystyrene microspheres and loaded to high levels of hydrogen by packing the coated beads in an electrolyzer cathode. The products of the nuclear reaction were carefully documented by a combination of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and neutron activation analysis (NAA).

nuclear reaction
nuclear reaction

A typical experiment is run continuously for 260 hours, resulting in a wide variety of elements. At atomic weights 22-23, 50-80, 103-120, and 200-210, there are four high yield peaks. This pattern is generally consistent with the results obtained by other research groups. For some elements, unnatural isotopic distributions have been found, which is also a sign of nuclear reactions.

The most commonly reported elements are calcium, copper, zinc and iron. They have been discovered in over 20 different experiments. Forty percent of the least frequently observed elements were rare earth elements from the lanthanide group: lutetium, terbium praseodymium, europium, samarium, gadolinium,dysprosium, holmium, neodymium and ytterbium.

There were other effects associated with nuclear transmutation. These include energetic charged particles, proton (~1.6 MeV) and alpha (~16 MeV) emissions, and low-quality emission X-rays. At the same time, excess heat was also produced. Based on the binding energy calculations, Miley concluded that the rate of transmutation correlated well with the excess energy produced.

Transmutations have been obtained with both light and heavy aqueous solutions, but heavy water seems to produce more transmutation products under certain conditions. However, while nuclear physicists make the transmutation of metals (albeit radioactive) a reality, players will feel like virtual alchemists, doing something similar in the Thaumcraft mod for the popular Minecraft game.

Thaumcraft Mod for Minecraft

This mod has evolved over 5 years to become one of the most popular mods in the Minecraft universe and the most popular magic focused mod. It adds a lot of interesting materials for the game, a lot of new mechanics, mobs, biomes and even an entire dimension. It contains an intricate and detailed game guide for almost the entire mod. One of the most significant features of the Thaumcraft mod is metal transmutation.

Aspects (skills) in Thaumcraft
Aspects (skills) in Thaumcraft

Mod adds a lot of machines to work with both magical and non-magical content, which can be fully automated. Most machinesinteract with pipes, ducts and other automation mechanisms. For more complex activities, the mod proudly presents its unique Golemancy - the concept of creating and operating golems - magical robots. They can do almost anything the player wants, even things that can't be done by tech mods yet.

Besides, most blocks and mobs are highly detailed, smooth multi-blocks and custom mob shapes can please even the most demanding gamer. The armor added by this mod also has 3D textures, which makes it really spectacular, allowing the wearer to catch admiring glances while playing on the server.

Many people are wondering how to learn metal transmutation in Thaumcraft 4.2? Most of the content, including the ability to transmute, can be unlocked in about 10 hours of addictive gameplay, but most players spend hundreds of hours building various complex installations, wonderful builds, and collecting the rarest blocks and items that are only limited by the player's imagination.

None of the content provided by this mod is a game balance issue, most of it is very well balanced even with other mods and can never cause conflict. But this mod adds so many handy things that using them all will make gameplay noticeably easier.

Even if hundreds of new items, blocks, mobs, etc. are not enough for a player, dozens of different addons can be installed, some of them are small and mainly focused onadding even more comfort to the gameplay. Large addons, in turn, add very powerful tools, weapons, armor and even a separate dimension, which is a real paradise for a miner.

This amazing mod can be talked about for a very long time, but it's always better to play it yourself.

Crafting in Thaumcraft
Crafting in Thaumcraft

Metal transmutation in Thaumcraft 4.2.3.5

The Basic Transmutation ability allows you to turn other materials into gold nuggets that you can use to create gold bars. Use sand to make sandstone and then use it to create smooth sandstone. As you learn alchemy skills and metal properties, be sure you may stumble upon a way to turn base metals into gold.

You can now turn base metals like iron into gold nuggets. However, transformation is impossible without costs and losses, but there is no such thing as too much gold, is there?

Crucible for transmutation

Crucible (Crucible) - This is the earliest way to use the abilities associated with the aspect of alchemy, including transmutation. To create a crucible, you can simply place a cauldron in the world and right-click on any of the wands. To use it, you must first provide a source of heat under the cauldron: fire (maybe from the burning of the bowels), lava, or magical flames (safer). Then use the bucket to fill the cauldron with water and make sure you research the recipe you want to use.

Brazier for transmutation in Thaumcraft
Brazier for transmutation in Thaumcraft

Iron Transmutation

You can learn how to "multiply" iron by creating it from other metals. To do this, you need to have two metals and an iron nugget, as well as a crucible. Note that this recipe will basically prevent iron nuggets from being used for metal in the crucible.

Tin Transmutation

You can transmute metals into tin using the same furnace. This is very relevant if you have a large amount of ore that you do not need at the moment, unlike tin. For everyone who played Thaumcraft 4.2.3.5, metal transmutation has always been one of their favorite activities. In version 5, however, it was worked out much better.

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