Sometime in the 1370's, French scrivener Nicolas Flamel purchased a strange 21-page book penned in a language unbeknownst to him. The minute, yet mystifying tome utterly engrossed Flamel, who promptly decided to dedicate his life to unraveling its secrets. Around 1378, Flamel's quest led him to Spain, where he met a sage who identified the tome as a copy of the original Book of Abramelin the Mage. Armed with this knowledge, Flamel and his wife Perenelle deciphered enough of the writing to reveal the recipe for the prized Philosopher's Stone, which they then used to transmute dung to gold and to concoct the "Elixir of Life," a highly sought after potion that bestows the drinker with immortality.



Or so the story goes...



In reality, the alchemists of antiquity unrelentingly toiled to attain immortality and achieve chrysopoeia -- the transmutation of other substances into gold -- but by all factual accounts of history, they came up empty-handed. In the process, however, they laid the foundations for modern day chemistry, so their efforts weren't completely fruitless.



If those ancient alchemists of yore magically came back to life today, that knowledge might be of little consolation. And they might be even more jaundiced to learn that present-day alchemists routinely transmute gold on a daily basis.



That's right. Thanks to modern science, alchemy is quite real.



Today the discipline's practitioners have different titles: nuclear and particle physicists. That's because gold can be manufactured within nuclear reactors by irradiating either platinum or mercury. Particle accelerators accomplish the same feat, though through a different process. By accelerating particles to monumental speeds and smashing them together or into certain target materials, neutrons and protons are knocked free and new elements are created.



The particle accelerator GSI in Germany can create an astounding two million new gold atoms each second, prompting the obvious question, "Where are physicists hoarding all of that bling?"



The answer of course is that they keep it in caves defended by dragons there isn't much bling produced in the first place. Two million atoms of "Au" may sound like a lot, but because those atoms are so infinitesimally small, GSI would have to operate around-the-clock for 50 million years just to produce one gram of gold! So while the gold-transmuting facet of alchemy is entirely real, it's not in the least bit efficient or profitable.



But who knows? Perhaps Nicolas Flamel is out there right now, leading a quiet and unassuming immortal life with his wife Perenelle and their gold-producing Philosopher's Stone, chuckling at our comparatively meager alchemical abilities.



(Image: Vials via Shutterstock)

