Re: Can we make Titanium in a Nuclear fussion or fission reactor?

Can we make Titanium in a reactor on earth? The short answer is "in 
theory yes, but not easily". However I need to address two items in 
response to your question. "Rare earths" are heavier elements on the 
periodic table, consisting of the Lanthanide and Actinide series - and 
contain elements such as Uranium and the man-made trans-uranics like 
Plutonium. These heavy elements are typically unstable. Titanium on the 
other hand is one of the lighter elements, atomic number 22. Stars 
generally are responsible for manufacturing elements other than Hydrogen. 
Elements on the periodic table up to Iron are made inside stars by Fusion 
processes. However, only the most massive stars are capable of "burning" 
heavier elements like Carbon to make Silicon, Titanium and Iron. 

The binding energy of the elements peak at Iron. That is, elements lighter 
than iron can fuse to create heavier elements and release energy. Beyond 
iron, energy is required. In nature, this is typically accomplished by a 
supernova. There are two main processes, whose description would get a 
bit involved. Rather than bore you with the details, I will leave a link 
to them below for more reading. The processes are r-process (for rapid)
and s-process (for slow) neutron capture. Duplicating the required 
conditions in a laboratory is daunting, but some elements in the 
periodic table have been manufactured under laboratory conditions. To my 
knowledge, no one has made either Titanium or Gold from a nuclear 
process. In theory it could be possible given the right conditions, but 
extremely, extremely difficult. The fact that these elements are made in 
exploding stars whose luminance outshines the galaxy for a brief 
period should give you a measure of the scale of difficulty. 

 http://www.chemicalelements.com/groups/rareearth.html

 http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/energy/bindingE.html

 http://www.nhn.ou.edu/~cowan/pt_Cowan10_2004.pdf