Infinite Money!

Infinite money: something that does not exist in our world! Unless possibly Bill Gates. If anyone would have a money tree, it would be that man.

Now for the real purpose of this blog post. Many common products we use on a daily basis, such as margarine, medication, more efficient and clean car exhausts, and other items are made using catalysts composed of metals such as platinum, rhodium, and ruthenium.

"Well that's great, but why do I care?"

These metals are rare, and the typical trend of pricing is a product with low supply and high demand will translate to a high price. Therefore, as platinum has a price of $22,656 per pound based on information from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/science/building-a-cheaper-catalyst.html?_r=0, you could easily see why scientists would want to cheaper alternatives. Wow, that price hurts my eyes...

Just the fact for $1,000,000, you could buy around 44 lbs. of platinum. So you could buy enough platinum equivalent to the weight of a medium sized dog for $1,000,000... Yes! For a million dollars you can have metals for catalysts to make margarine! Anything for toast! Alright moving on.

In a recent science news journal, three teams of scientists published findings in which they could create catalysts with much cheaper metals that perform as well if not better than these million-dollar catalysts. Too bad these catalysts can't be made of Aluminum. It's only $0.78! I could pay for those catalysts with my lunch money. By adding specific organic molecules to other metals and then dissolving them in a solution, scientists were able to create these cheaper catalysts that won't break the bank! Read more in the article http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/science/building-a-cheaper-catalyst.html?_r=0.

Well this is the point of science! To make life easier! Life surely will be easier since companies won't have to be stressed because of debt caused from purchasing expensive metals such as platinum. But in all seriousness, this shows have humans are approaching a time when these finite resources will one day be depleted. Therefore it's important science invests time into this type of science producing many alternatives. Wait I have boxes of platinum in my kitchen! Just kidding, it's only aluminum.