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Alchemists have been fighting for centuries to create the legendary philosopher's stone capable, among other things, of transforming base metals into precious metals, and more particularly – into gold. Modern Chinese scientists finally seem to have been about to perform such a transformation.
A group of Chinese scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics published a study in the journal Science Advances, which describes how they managed to turn ordinary copper into a material "almost identical" to gold. and money. The metal, which scientists have obtained through their experience, could serve as a catalyst for a reaction producing alcohol from coal – something that only precious metals such as gold are able to do.
The researchers bombarded a piece of copper with a hot, electrically charged argon stream. The procedure charges its atoms, making their electrons more dense and more stable, making the resulting material more similar to gold in terms of resistance to erosion, oxidation and high temperatures.
The research paper points out that the new inexpensive copper-based material can replace expensive gold and silver in the production of electronic devices, which require significant amounts of these materials.
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At the same time, the material will hardly be useful to counterfeiters, because its density remains the same as that of copper, which makes it lighter than gold and makes it difficult to manufacture fake gold bars or coins. change.
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