Large collitians of Hadrons collision transform lead into gold – for a fraction of a second
Physicists transform lead into gold – for a fraction of a second
Scientists of the famous European particle collision have briefly created gold ions from lead in a modern touch on the alchemical objective
LHC experiences do not create large gold nuggets – but certain particles in a beam of lead ions can be transformed into gold for about a microsecond.
Slowmotiongli / Getty Images
The dream of XVIIth century alchemists was produced by physicists at Large collision of Hadrons (LHC), which transformed lead into gold – although only for a fraction of a second and at a huge cost.
The not so mysterious transmutation occurred in CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, where the LHC of several billion dollars breaks lead ions for part of each experimental race.
The first chemists hoped to transform an abundant advance into precious gold. But the differences in number of protons between the elements (82 for lead and 79 for gold) made this impossible by chemical means.
On the support of scientific journalism
If you appreciate this article, plan to support our award -winning journalism by subscription. By buying a subscription, you help to ensure the future of striking stories about discoveries and ideas that shape our world today.
CERN researchers obtained the feat by targeting beams of lead to each other, moving near the speed of light. The ions throw themselves occasionally, rather than hitting the head. When this happens, the intense electromagnetic field around an ion can create an energy impulse that triggers a lead nucleus coming in the opposite direction to eject three protons – transforming it into gold.
The Alice detector at CERN.
The LHC Alice experience filtered these transmutation cases from wider collision debris. In an analysis published on May 7 Physical review journalsThe team calculated that between 2015 and 2018, the LHC collisions created 86 billion gold nuclei – approximately 29 billion grams. Most unstable and rapid moving atoms would have lasted approximately 1 microsecond before breaking into the experimental apparatus or breaking into other particles.
Gold is being manufactured whenever the plumb beams are collided at LHC, but Alice is the only experience with the detector set up to identify this process. Analysis “is the first to systematically detect and analyze the signing of gold production to the LHC experimentally”, explains Uliana Dmitrieva, physicist and member of the Alice collaboration.
Another CERN accelerator called the SPS observed with lead transformed into gold from 2002 to 2004, explains Jiangyong Jia, a physicist at Stony Brook University in New York. But the latest experiences are higher energy, have a much higher probability of creating gold and making much cleaner observations, he adds.
CERN researchers do not intend to take gold as a stampede, but say they better understand how photons can change nuclei will help them improve LHC performance. “Understanding these processes is crucial to control the quality and stability of the beam,” explains Jia.
This article is reproduced with permission and was first publication May 9, 2025.
