Satirical paper prices the world's most expensive electron at $43 quadrillion per mole

CatAstro_Piyush · x · 2026-10-17

A tongue-in-cheek paper in the Journal of Immaterial Science computes a 'grand unified electron pricing structure':

Lab reductants: zinc powder is cheapest at $6.86/mol e⁻; SmI₂ costs $53,600/mol e⁻
Antioxidants: blueberries $389/mol e⁻; saffron hits $58,309/mol e⁻ thanks to its price, not its antioxidant content (killing the planned title 'blueberries have the world's most expensive electrons')
β-emitting radionuclides: tritium glowsticks $7.9M/mol e⁻, ³²P $562B/mol e⁻, with lead-210 the winner — two moles of its electrons exceed the US national debt, $43 quadrillion/mol

Moral: electrons are like property — value is all about location.

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