6. Nuclear reactions allow us in principle to achieve the dream of the medieval alchemists, namely, to change other metals into gold. For example, bombarding a target of Hg with a proton beam can covert the 200Hg into 197Au by the reaction: p+ 280Hg a + 19 Au Natural mercury has an atomic mass of 200.59, i.e. Avogadro's number of mercury atoms weights 200.59 grams. Liquid mercury has a density of 13.53 g/cm, and is 23.1% 200 Hg in isotopic abundance. Assume that the other isotopes of Hg do not participate in any way. Suppose we insert a 50 cm thick flask of liquid mercury into the proton beam from the TRIUMF Cyclotron(the largest proton cyclotron in the world). Suppose the cross section for producing gold by the above nuclear reaction is 0.1 barn. The TRIUMF proton beam has a current of 100 microamperes. Calculate how many atoms of gold would be produced in one month of irradiation. The current market price of gold is $61.21 per gram. What is the monetary value of the gold that is produced in one month? The TRIUMF cyclotron consumes $250,000 per month for electrical power alone. Do you think that production of gold by nuclear alchemy would be a good business enterprise?