system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can we synthesize Gold in the laboratory?

One of the aims of Alchemy was the transmutation of common metals into Gold. It seems we are able to synthesize rare elements that are very high on the periodic table in the laboratory. The process described on how that is done sounds an awful lot like Alchemy to me. So my question is why don't we synthesize Gold? Is it just that the cost to do so would be more than the value of gold which is somewhat readily obtainable? Or is there something else about the lighter elements on the periodic table that make it not possible to do when it can be done with heavier elements?
gpt
>  Is it just that the cost to do so would be more than the value of gold which is somewhat readily obtainable?

Yes.  However:

- Reaction rates are generally low  
- The products are often radioactive

For instance, if we pass mercury through a nuclear reactor, 196-Hg can absorb a neutron, becoming 197-Hg, which decays fairly quickly to 197-Au.  

The problem is that 196-Hg makes up only 0.15% of naturally occurring mercury.  The other isotopes can also absorb neutrons, which decay to unstable isotopes of gold (or other elements). 

So if you were to attempt synthesizing gold this way, you would be left with a radioactive mixture containing small amounts of gold, which you would then need to process.  The costs of operating a nuclear reactor, passing large amounts of mercury through it, and processing radioactive mixtures make the whole thing not very cost-effective.