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Metallic plutonium is far rarer and more tightly controlled than gold. There is no civilian market for it. Building a new plutonium separation-and-metallization
by philipkglass 7y ago
Metallic plutonium is far rarer and more tightly controlled than gold. There is no civilian market for it. Building a new plutonium separation-and-metallization facility for processing spent civil nuclear fuel is more expensive than a new gold mine. Plutonium is also easy to detect by its radioactivity.
- microtherion 7y agoYes, I know all of that, was just asking why this would be detectible by weight. Picked plutonium for the lulz. It looks like osmium or platinum would be cost effective, at today's gold prices.
- philipkglass 7y agoI see, you were challenging the "The only way" part of the statement. Yes, any metal alloy or hollow body with a density matching gold could be used to pass density based tests. The natural choice is the cheapest metal of sufficient density -- tungsten. Platinum was historically used to dilute gold by alloying before it became valuable in its own right and chemical tests improved. "Gone Platinum: Contraband and Chemistry in Eighteenth-Century Colombia" https://www.vianolavie.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2015/06/Gone-Platinum.pdf https://www.vianolavie.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2015/0...
- perl4ever 7y agoPlatinum being cheaper than gold is one of those random facts that makes the world seem seriously off-kilter to me these days. It used to be much more expensive.
- qtplatypus 7y agoWould depleted uranium be cost effective?
- microtherion 7y agoFor some weird reason, uranium is not as dense as gold.
- qtplatypus 7y agoI did some research. While uranium atoms are heavier then gold atoms they are also bigger so they don’t pack as tightly.