[NewCandle] Transmutation of aluminum to silver

[Keith Nagel]

OK, but consider the following.

It was unclear what the starting solution was. What was
given to my friend was a 15 percent solution of aluminum
nitrate. A dilute solution of nitric acid will corrode
the aluminum very quickly, so you may get different
results if you try that. And what was typical for
mining was a solution of silver nitrate in nitric
acid ( the ore being dissolved ) which becomes an
aluminum nitrate solution over time as it is used.

So my suggestion would be to start with the 15 percent
solution of aluminum nitrate, and add additional nitric
acid if you want to accelerate the reaction. Expect
that a plate of aluminum may take about 6 months to
a year to dissolve in this solution. 

What I took away from this was the fact that a transmutation
reaction is a rare thing; thermal fluctuations may be
sufficient to cause the reaction to occur but the tail
is _very_ long so those reactions are only going to happen
occasionally. Hence the requirement for a long, slow
dissolution.

Also, and I feel stupid pointing out what is likely
a red herring; if you look at the atomic mass of aluminum,
~26.98, 4 atoms would give you one atom of silver ~107.9 atomic mass.
I know that's really weak, but there you go...

K. 

-----Original Message-----
From: newcandle-bounces at ipdiscover.com
[mailto:newcandle-bounces at ipdiscover.com]On Behalf Of Nick Reiter
Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2008 10:11 AM
To: New energy for the new world.
Subject: Re: [NewCandle] Transmutation of aluminum to silver


Hi Keith,

Well isn't that the berries.  What a fascinating
story.  Yeah, I was surprised when I began doing EDS
on this batch.  The signals seem real, but as you
point out, replication with traceable pure materials
seems essential.

SIMS and glow discharge mass spec could quantify and
profile this to the nth degree, but I'll have to start
saving up now - SIMS could be doable for about $1000
from Evans Analytical, scans for two elements plus Al
and Si as references.

This coming week, I'll try some dissolution in HNO3
and see what I get.

Thanks for sharing this, and I appreciate obviously
that you didn't until now!

n

--- Keith Nagel <NewCandleAdmin at ipdiscover.com> wrote:

> Hey Nick,
> 
> Well, I'm sort of stunned and unsure what to say
> next...
> 
> I may regret this, but here goes.
> 
> There was once a research scientist who did work for
> one of the
> big beverage companies. His job was studying
> corrosion of aluminum,
> for the obvious reason that the products his company
> manufactured
> were stored in aluminum cans. He claimed to have
> discovered a process
> of transmutation, turning al to silver. In his
> basement were hundreds
> of mason jars, each containing a pair of aluminum
> plates submerged in
> a solution of aluminum nitrate. Slowly, over the
> course of months,
> the aluminum would corrode. After the plates had
> dissolved, he would
> collect the tiny crystals of silver.
> 
> How this story came to light was as follows. The guy
> died, without
> telling anyone what (if any) secret there was to the
> process.
> His children asked people for help, and came to my
> former employer
> and close friend for advice. He experimented with
> the process a bit,
> but could not make any solid claims of reproduction.
> 
> 
> Now, like all stories, there are some mitigating
> factors that must
> be considered. Firstly, it was claimed by the family
> that the guy
> bought a silver mine to "cover up" the silver
> transmutation process.
> And it is well known that the common method of
> silver mining is
> to dissolve the ore in nitric acid, then displace
> the silver from
> solution by allowing aluminum to corrode in the
> acid. The nitric
> acid becomes aluminum nitrate, and you get silver
> metal. So there
> is this prosaic explanation.
> 
> However, the claim was that it took a _long_ time (
> slow corrosion )
> to get the silver in easily measurable quantities.
> Also, there
> were words to the effect that you needed water from
> the bottom of
> a deep well, which we now know to be more
> concentrated in D2O.
> 
> Is this starting to sound familiar?
> 
> In fact, the very observations you are making now
> may be the ones
> that started our research scientist friend off on
> his adventure.
> 
> So, where do we go from here?  The obvious thing
> would be to start
> with known pure materials, to eliminate the
> possibility of contamination
> of silver which would plate out on the aluminum by
> the well known
> displacement reaction. HOWEVER, it should be noted
> that there is
> a strong chance that a certain amount of silver may
> be needed as
> a "seed" to get the process going. So negative
> results with pure
> materials may not mean the effect doesn't exist.
> Ideally, we
> may want ratios, silver in/out. This is not an easy
> experiment,
> due to the time involved, and the analysis required.
>  
> 
> I've been meaning to mention this story since you
> started writing
> about your al corrosion experiments, but frankly I
> was afraid
> that if I told you I would bias you to look for
> silver and so
> the results wouldn't be credible.  But here you are,
> with some
> silver results, so you ( and anyone else reading )
> gets the
> story...
> 
> K.
> 


The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits.
The blade and chalice guarding o'er Her gates. 
Adorned in the masters' loving art, She lies;
She rests at last beneath the starry skies.


      

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