• Question: Can elements be manufacured artificially

    Asked by drakee18 to Indi, Jarv, John, Ken, Vicky on 15 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by nav1.
    • Photo: Jarvist Moore Frost

      Jarvist Moore Frost answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Definitely!
      In fact, for loads of really important elements (and particular isotopes of elements) used for medicine, the only way we have of making them is to manufacture them in nuclear reactors and particle accelerators. All the natural resources of these materials would have radioactively decayed away long long ago.

      Things we manufacture tend to be fairly radioactive though, and it takes a lot of effort (and expense!) to make a very small amount, so it’s no use for turning Lead into Gold to make money!

    • Photo: Vicky Young

      Vicky Young answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Just as Jarvis says – yes we can but it is an expensive process.

      A cool project would be finding a way to make or change elements at a reduced cost! You could make a lot of money from that technology….

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