For centuries, alchemists had fantasized about converting lead into gold. Today, scientists at CERN have done just that—if only for a brief instant. With the world's largest particle accelerator, researchers have converted fantasy into contemporary physics.
Turning Lead to Gold at the LHC
Physicists working at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have performed a rare trick. In high-energy collisions of lead nuclei, gold atoms existed for a fleeting moment. The experiment was a part of the ALICE collaboration that researches the early state of the universe.
The scientists were not hunting for treasure but information. Such fleeting occurrences assist scientists to comprehend matter as it existed in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang. The process occurred in near-miss collisions where lead atoms narrowly made contact but exchanged sufficient energy to induce change.
An Ancient Quest, A Modern Explanation
The findings were published in the Physical Review Journals, where they explained that lead was turned into gold. The concept of converting lead into gold—termed chrysopoeia—was started in the medieval ages, as argued by CERN. Early scholars thought that the two elements had a close association due to the fact that their densities were somewhat similar.
Years later, chemistry again proved that gold and lead were distinct elements. There was no chemical means by which to transform one into the other. The dream dissolved until nuclear physics brought a new twist. Nuclear physics found that atomic nuclei can alter through particle bombardment or radioactive decay.
Artificial gold has been produced before. But the ALICE collaboration employed a novel approach. Here, gold was created when two lead nuclei nearly collided within the LHC. This near-contact enabled a protons-and-neutrons reshuffling that yielded gold atoms.
Physicists say this rare transformation helps them learn about fundamental forces. It also offers clues about how elements may have formed in the early universe. Though this isn't the way to mint gold coins, it proves how far modern science has come in unlocking nature's secrets.
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