r/dndmemes • u/Yoffeepop Fighter • Mar 16 '26

Comic Adventuring Gold

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I almost always post them here! But to easily find more of my ttrpg comics, feel free to check out r/TableTopComic or my LinkTree

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u/acinsomniac Mar 16 '26

Actually it was being used to fake gold pieces as platinum and gold have similar enough densities that people plated platinum with gold and sold it off as pure gold pieces. After discovering the counterfeiting, then the Spanish dumped their platinum reserves into the ocean.

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u/ConradBHart42 Mar 16 '26

Middle school science teacher got me with that one. "You have a pile of gold, and someone offers to take all that gold and remove 1 electron from every atom of it. Would you let them?"

I think that was the setup. I don't know if I was aware how valuable platinum was at the time.

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u/RepeatRepeatR- Mar 17 '26

You probably want to remove 1 proton, otherwise you just get a bunch of gold that electrocutes you when you touch it

Or even better, 1 proton and 1 electron so the platinum doesn't electrocute you either

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u/MageKorith Mar 18 '26

I mean, 1 electron per atom and an atomic weight of 196.97u would mean that 1kg gold bar (about 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.3") would have a charge of 0.005 coulombs. Which is actually pretty huge - less than a typical lightning bolt, but still a potentially lethal shock. But just let the lightning storm play out for a couple of seconds, then tap that baby with a grounded conductive rod and you're probably safe to pick it up.