Long before it was rescued from the grip of He Who Must Not Be Named by a bespectacled British 11 - year - old , thePhilosopher ’s Stonewas an ancient and mystical centre sought throughout the world for its marvellous and life - giving properties .
Legend said the Stone hold the key to immortality – some conceive it was the cause Adam and Eve were able-bodied to live for over 900 years in the Bible . Not only that , but it was said to be capable of chrysopoeia – the ability to transform base metals into pure Au .
Now , 1000 of long time after it was first imagined by those ancient mystics , scientist in China may be about to make this ambition a reality . No , they have n’t strike the key to eternal life – that wassomeone else – but they have found a way to work Cu into a raw stuff “ almost identical ” to gold .
In their paper , release this week inScience Advances , the team describe how they bombarded copper mote with in high spirits - energy argon plasma , changing the alloy ’s electron structure . “ Frozen ” at zero valence by this process , the copper became less reactive and started behaving rather like imposing metals such as amber or flatware .
The copper nanoparticles " achieved catalytic carrying out highly like to that of gold or silver , ” the team explained in a statement post on the honorary society ’s website and reported in theSouth China Morning Post . “ The results … testify that after processing , metal copper can transform from ‘ volaille ’ to ‘ phoenix . ' ”
Unlike the alchemical solutions sought byIsaac Newton , among others , this discovery wo n’t make the chemists all of a sudden and inexplicably affluent – it ca n’t be used to make fake amber . But that has n’t stoppedsome commentersfrom speculating that the development might lead to the precious metal lose its place as a line market place and economic hedging standard – perhaps to an electronic alternative such as Bitcoin .
But cryptocurrencies , with their currentplanet - destroyingenergy demands , are about as far from the researchers ’ finish as possible . They or else see their discovery as an of the essence – and moneymaking – mode to take on the challenges of the modernistic world .
Not only do their resistance to oxidation and low responsiveness make gold and ash grey staring for industrial role – there ’s a veritablejewelry boxinside your smartphone , for instance – baronial metals are also used in sophisticated chemical processes that can transform coal into useful and white resourcefulness like ethanol .
“ The clear utilization of coal resources to synthesize high value - add chemical substance is greatly desired with the increasing energy and environmental job , ” explicate the newspaper .
“ [ Methyl glycolate ] … is an essential medium with high commercial price than [ other substances ] for the synthesis of pharmaceutical products , hunky-dory chemical substance , and perfumes . However , [ methyl group glycolate ] is unmanageable to be gain via copper accelerator … [ so ] the development of an efficient catalyst to control and regulate the target products is still a majuscule challenge for both academia and industriousness . ”
