Possibility of a Real Alchemy

I've been thinking about it for a while, but if certain requirements are fulfilled, then alchemy is possible to be done

Supporting facts:

-. Every materials in the world is composed by atom. Even though each atoms has different masses and sizes, all of them are constructed by electrons, protons, and neutrons.
-. The mass of electron, proton and neutron is same, no matter in what atoms they are. For example, the mass of a single electron in hydrogen is the same with the mass of a single electron in oxygen. The same rule applies for proton and neutron as well.

Basically, if we can dismantle something completely to electron level (not molecular level anymore) and rebuild it, we can create gold (or any other thing) through thin air, given enough E, P and N.

The question is:
How to make reconstruction of E, P and N possible

Please give some of your thought about this problem
Even imaginary solution is appreciated

This is something that has been known since the atomic theory was first developed. This is, in fact, how new trans-uranic elements are made.

Why bother making gold? Making plutonium is 100 times more profitable. Americium is $180 million per kg.

^pretty much this. Gold is useless.

[font=Arial Black][color=blue]Mod Note:[/color][/font] I am not sure if this topic is appropriate for the Serious Discussions section, but I am willing to leave it here for now to see how things develop.

Contributing to the topic a little, alchemy appears to have been practised since ancient times. However, its practise does not seem as widespread today, although it may have taken a different form which is less common to ourselves. Furthemore, it has been rumoured that people have practised alchemy not just to create gold, but in the process, gain immortality as well. Perhaps one good example would be the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty of China.

At our current scientific tech level, the amount of time, effort, and money it would take to build enough atoms to then put together into something usable would out weigh the value of what ever was made. this kind of thing is still a long, long way off me thinks.

hmmm, i see where are you going with this. Well its true that science has advance to the understanding of the subatomic particle. But wouldn't it really high energy to split the bond between the neutron and proton.

Well, you can do it if you have the ability to split and bond subatomic particle, if not you need a really high energy particle collider to split or bond those subatomic particle.

Well this is only based on my vague understanding of particle physic . Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I do remember watching a documentary about scientist trying to make new elements.

I just reminded myself of Ironman 2.

Now I don't know if you consider that Alcehmy which would be to change one element into another. I do however believe it is important to point out that it is much easier to say things in theory but however much more difficult to do in practice.

@gambler I do believe discussion of scientific matters would be considered SD.

This shit is for real, scientists learned how to make gold a long time ago, (CLICK HERE) This isn't even impressive considering that we can make fucking Anti-Hydrogen now, think bigger people.

They don't have to dismantle the elements either, since just adding some protons to another element changes it into a completely different element.

Compound: (Chemistry) A substance formed by chemical union of two or more elements or ingredients in definite proportion by weight.

Copper + Tin = Bronze

Alchemy is the forerunner to Chemistry. We've been fusing elements together for millenia. We just haven't found all of the ways to do it yet. Yes, transmutation is entirely possible and we've already accomplished this.

Edit: After reading Grover's linked article, I'd like to point out the main problem we have and why this isn't widespread.

Transmutation is fucking expensive.

isint that one of the possibility's of nanites? as long as you have enouge base matter, P,N,E, and nanites which can manipulate individual atoms you can make anything right?

Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space, matter is made out of atoms. Atoms are made out of protons neutrons and electrons. Your question was a bit redundant.

It's already possible to create an algorithm that could do something like this, but for us to implement such a thing in the size of a nanite is, well, not going to happen for quite some time, especially when you consider a big achievement in robotics right now is having something almost as large as a Japanese man waddle at high speeds in a circle or having a rover that can automatically adjust itself to very small elevations in terrain. Artificial intelligence that can learn and adjust itself to exactly what is required in the physical world on a very in-depth level will take us a while to accomplish.

As I said before, alchemy is the forerunner to chemistry. It is possible to turn anything into anything else through the process of adding or subtracting neutrons, protons or electrons from an element using other elements or just by stripping them from the element itself.

In short: Yes, it is entirely possible but at the current moment in time, unfeasible.

Edit: I also don't think we would use nanite technology to accomplish this.

Using nanites to assemble atoms would be like using bulldozers the size of death stars to assemble a watch.

Nanites are too big. And, yes, I know what nanobots are. They're. too. big.

Approximately 3 to 6 atoms fit inside of a nanometer. Nanites are not too big in any sense.

To add to the topic at hand:

What if a nanite were programmed to use magnetism to add or subtract electrons/protons from atoms? In theory, the nanite could be programmed to move just the right amount of distance away from an atom in order to attract a proton/electron from the atom and vice versa. This would require an algorithm capable of predicting the movement of electrons and protons with extreme precision and you would also have to work it out so the nanite does not lose it's own composition and completely disrupt the process. So, as Navikt noted, this won't be possible within our lifetime or at the very least, it's highly unlikely.

It's called chemistry nowdays though...