Encasing people in gold?

Kayley

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Hi everyone. This question isn't actually about a book I'm writing, but rather one I recently beta read. The book is a standard YA dystopian in which the bad guy punishes rebels by encasing them in gold, effectively turning them into statues. This concept doesn't quite sit well with me. I get that the bad guy wants to display the statues to make an example out of the people he's punished, but I'm confused about the exact means used.

These are the main two questions I have:

1) Is gold really the best way to do this? Considering how valuable gold is, it seems like it would be a waste to use it on criminals. Isn't there another, less expensive substance to use?

2) How do the logistics of encasing someone in gold work? In the book, the statues resemble exactly how the encased individual was standing before they were doused in molten gold. One of the characters makes a figurative gesture that is replicated by her statue and the MC is able to recognize it (and her) later on. But since the gold is so hot, wouldn't it melt off her skin? Would she still resemble herself in the end?

I'll admit I know very little about metalworking, which is why I'm hoping to get your expertise. I want to make sure I'm giving my crit partner the proper advice. For all I know, maybe she's right that gold is the best way to go about it.
 

King Neptune

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I have never encased anyone in gold, but I think it would be difficult. If you poured molten gold on someone, most of it would simply fall off after giving some nasty burns. The Ancient Egyptians made gold masks of Pharohs being mummified, and the gold was worked at normal temperatures. It could be done, if you put the person in a tub and covered them with molten metal; there'd have to be things holding them down. That would cook the person well and thoroughly, so the result would be misshapen. I don't think it's a practical way to get rid of your enemies.
 

blacbird

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I have never encased anyone in gold, but I think it would be difficult. If you poured molten gold on someone, most of it would simply fall off after giving some nasty burns.

Not to mention that whoever you did this to would be long dead before the gold cooled.

The famous James Bod Goldfinger scene involved using gold paint. And I recall seeing a TV show some years ago which confirmed that encasing someone in that manner could actually cause death.

caw
 

ErezMA

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Viserys Targaryen. 'nuff said.
 

Helix

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Viserys Targaryen. 'nuff said.

Doesn't actually address the OP, though.

I can't imagine that encasing someone in gold would work like that described in the OP. There's always sputter-coating, I suppose, which covers everything, but it's not very thick.

I'd suggest a more plausible process is to make a mould of the victim and then make a metal cast from that.
 
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Fingers

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With the melting point of gold being nearly 2000 F. there would be little of the body left if you just poured molten gold over it. Helix is correct about having to make a mold first if you want the statue to have any resemblance of a person.
 

mrsmig

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Not to mention that whoever you did this to would be long dead before the gold cooled.

The famous James Bod Goldfinger scene involved using gold paint. And I recall seeing a TV show some years ago which confirmed that encasing someone in that manner could actually cause death.

caw

Actually, this Mythbusters episode proved just the opposite.
 

frimble3

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It seems unworkable. Molten metal: how would you apply a thin, even layer to a living person, who would presumably struggle, and not hold a characteristic gesture? Covering a human body in anything thick causes a loss of detail. Pouring gold on a restrained person would just end up in a blob of gold.
Making a model of the victim and gilding that would be the likeliest. Like a death-mask, only pricier. Possibly killing the victims and freeze-drying them would work, if you want to use the actual victim. But, as far as I know, there's some dehydration involved which would have to be compensated for.
The general idea would be the same though, a layer of gold-leaf over a solid surface. It's still a waste of expensive gold.
 

Adversary

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You're not pouring molten anything onto a human body without destroying it utterly, and there wont be a 'mould' of the remains left either.

Making a mask or cover or anything else might work, but i would ask, as i think anyone would ask, why anyone would go through so much work and insane expense for a criminal.

If you wanted to get all sciency (sci-fi sciency most likely) you could go the Han Solo route, but with gold, but again with the 'lets give the criminal a $50000000 burial', and of course, we're ALL gonna be thinking Han Solo....
 

Treehouseman

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Gilding with gold leaf? if you kept applying the leaves.It's a pretty labour intense process.

The body might have to be flash-frozen first. An epoxy resin, such as Araldite would make a clear cast of the body.
 

Bufty

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I know the question is how to do it, but I don't get the basic 'gold statue' aspect of it. How does making a golden statue of someone who is dead make an example of them?

If it's to show others the horrible positions they assumed while suffering being encased in gold, it doesn't work because death would be instantaneous and you wouldn't have a statue shape at all.

How about encasing them alive (save for nostrils and eyes?) in plaster-of-paris, painting it gold and then placing the statue in the town square.
 

King Neptune

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One way that might work would be to paralyze the person and cover him with powdered gold, a good thick coating. Then put the paralyzed, gold powder covered person into the desired position and melt the gold in place either with a torch of some sort or with an electric current. Yet another method would be to using the person as an electrode in a plating bath and electroplate the person.

It is possible that electroplating would be successful, and it might not kill the person, and it would use a minimal amount of gold.
 

GeorgeK

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Molten gold not an option if the goal is to have a recognizable statue

Plaster wouldn't work because it has little structural strength. It would need to be so thick that it would be just a block and not resemble the person so imprisoned. Gold too, doesn't have much structural strength, assume pure gold and not an alloy.

Flash freezing wouldn't work unless you kept them frozen or eventually the body would rot.

You need the body to be desiccated and the bacteria dead if they are to be stored at room temperature. So, mummification and gold leaf or death by cyanide, allowed to dry then gold leaf. Or, the bad guy could do what bad guys tend to do and lie. It's not actual gold, just gold colored spray paint/make-up
 

King Neptune

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Then there's the method that I am planning to have used on my body after my death: fossilization. It is time consuming, but it can be done within a few years, if the body is put into a highly mineralized solution and minerals are added as they are taken up in the body. I haven't worked out the exact mixture, yet. But after the body turns to stone it could be electroplated, covered with gold leaf, or hot dipped, depending on what kind of finish one wanted.
 

robjvargas

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Nothing is as impressive, IMO, as plain ole taxidermy.

Get 'em stuffed. Then said bad-guy king-type can put them in whatever humiliating position would put forth the message he desires.
 

GeorgeK

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and dress them like mimes
 

Twig2

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Assuming the bad guy has some good engineers work out the details, he could probably do it. Covering something in gold is referred to as "gilding", and it is sometimes done to (formerly) living objects such as flowers (c.f. the saying "to gild the lilly").

Actual gold turns white hot before melting. It cannot be used to gild anything. What people refer to as "molten gold" is usually an alloy or an amalgam, which is not nearly as hot. Still too hot though.

What the bad guy is probably using is a mixture of gold dust and a fast-hardening polymer that could be spray-painted on the victims at room temperature. (A surface coat of pure gold can then be applied e.g. using electrolysis, if desired.)

The cost would not be a problem if the bad guy is keeping a gold reserve at any rate. Statues can be melted and the gold re-used if the need arises.
 

ErezMA

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Doesn't actually address the OP, though.

I can't imagine that encasing someone in gold would work like that described in the OP. There's always sputter-coating, I suppose, which covers everything, but it's not very thick.

I'd suggest a more plausible process is to make a mould of the victim and then make a metal cast from that.

There's no way you could cover someone in burning hot molten, liquid metal and they could survive from it.
 

WeaselFire

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1) It's a dystopian society. Maybe the guy likes showing off how much gold he has available. No need for the author to change that. If it's a genuine concern, it's a gold alloy that costs very little to produce.

2) It's a dystopian society. The process for encasing someone in gold was developed during the early dystopian era, and works fine for this purpose.

Heck, if Han Solo could be encased in carbonite, then freed later in perfect health, readers will accept encasing in gold.

Jeff
 

RKarina

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Since we're talking a fictional, dystopian society, we're not constrained to existing technology. Maybe gold is now cheap, or it's a readily available resource, or its this guy's way of showing off his wealth. Whatever. so long as it makes sense in the book's universe.

Ditto the technique. Is it possible to do this? Nope. But we're not talking about what's possible right now. Maybe he has a way to apply a thin layer of quick setting gold material that will immediately freeze the person in place while simultaneously suffocating them.

Yeah, if we can swallow Han Solo in carbonite, I don't see why this has to be a technically/scientifically feasible thing.
 

eyeblink

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The famous James Bod Goldfinger scene involved using gold paint. And I recall seeing a TV show some years ago which confirmed that encasing someone in that manner could actually cause death.

caw

I heard that too. The scene didn't kill Shirley Eaton because they didn't paint over the parts of her you don't see on screen.
 

GeorgeK

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I'll just leave this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI

You end up not seeing any casted ants. You just see the ants nest.
That's not a fair comparison what they are doing in that video is maybe comparable to what happened in Herculaneum when Vesuvius erupted. Casts of those holes revealed statues of people where the detail was only good enough to probably tell male vs female. That's very different than a small scale amount of molten metal with a relatively large mass of a person to be coated. That said, like I said before, the temperatures are such that the flesh would be burned and the end result would still not resemble the victim. Taxidermy (like Rob said) and then gold leaf probably is the way to go.
 
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King Neptune

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I'll just leave this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI

You end up not seeing any casted ants. You just see the ants nest.

It makes me wish I had a large ant nest to get rid of.

- - - Updated - - -

That's not a fair comparison what they are doing in that video is maybe comparable to what happened in Herculaneum when Vesuvius erupted. Casts of those holes revealed statues of people where the detail was only good enough to probably tell male vs female. That's very different than a small scale amount of molten metal with a relatively large mass of a person to be coated. That said, like I said before, the temperatures are such that the flesh would be burned and the end result would still not resemble the victim. Taxidermy (like Rob said) and then gold leaf probably is the way to go.

Electroplating is the way to go.
 

Kayley

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Thanks for all the feedback! I brought the subject up to my friend and it'll be up to her how she proceeds.