Also, article skips over the chemical part of this: Vitriol, the name for the impure sulfuric acid they used, was green (due to some iron and cupper sulfates). You can use sulfuric acid to purify gold; it’ll dissolve the silver and copper in a gold alloy, but not the gold itself, giving you 100% gold.
However, the green lion can also ‘ascend’ by combing with nitric acid to make aqua regia, where it can dissolve gold, “devouring it”.
Also, article skips over the chemical part of this: Vitriol, the name for the impure sulfuric acid they used, was green (due to some iron and cupper sulfates). You can use sulfuric acid to purify gold; it’ll dissolve the silver and copper in a gold alloy, but not the gold itself, giving you 100% gold.
However, the green lion can also ‘ascend’ by combing with nitric acid to make aqua regia, where it can dissolve gold, “devouring it”.