Turn Water Into Gold - Alchemy Project

One of the quests of the ancient alchemists (and possibly modern ones as well) was to transmute a base material into gold. While it's possible to turn lead into gold using a particle accelerator, alchemists tend to seek chemical reactions that might produce gold. One reaction they explored appeared to turn water into gold. You can try this too, as an interesting experiment or as a memorable chemistry demonstration. Here is what you do...