This thought came from researching a previous question. In the spirit of our get-rich-quick scheming I looked up element densities and prices near gold.
- Element (g/cm^3) (dollars/kg)
- Uranium 18.95 40
- Tungsten 19.25 24
- Gold 19.282 53,000
- Roentgenium 19.282 no market
- Plutonium 19.84 4,000,000
- Neptunium 20.25 660,000
- Rhenium 21.02 5,000
- Platinum 21.46 54,000
- Darmstadtium 21.46 no market
- Osmium 22.61 77,000
- Iridium 22.65 42,000
It would be so easy if we could just substitute some of the gold for a cheaper metal, but it seems that gold is well-protected from this kind of forgery (which is perhaps part of the reason its so special to begin with). Almost all of the elements more dense are vastly more expensive, or only producible in small quantities in a lab.
There is a very thin market for Rhenium, so we could buy some at a price lower than gold, but any more and we'll risk either bumping up the Re market price, or being foiled by the authorities. As thrifty criminals we would like to go with Tungsten instead.
Can an allow increase the density of a metal? Qualitatively, I imagine that a lighter element could take up interstitial sites, and allow a higher density. But is there any known Tungsten compound that fits this, or any known method of alloying that would increase its density by that ever-so-slight amount?
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