Scientists at Europe’s famous particle collider had a wild moment when they managed to turn lead into gold, even if it was only for a split second. It all went down at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC, which costs billions of dollars to operate, carries out experiments by smashing lead ions together.
Back in the day, alchemists dreamed of turning common lead into precious gold. But due to differences in proton numbers between the two elements (lead has 82 protons while gold only has 79), that was just impossible using regular chemistry. Fast forward to modern times, and physicists at CERN found a way to make it happen, sort of.
By shooting beams of lead at each other at super high speeds, the researchers were able to create a scenario where some of the lead ions would transform into gold. This transformation occurred when the ions passed each other, creating an intense electromagnetic field that caused one of the lead nuclei to lose three protons and essentially become gold.
The ALICE experiment at the LHC was able to detect these rare instances of gold production amidst the chaos of the collisions. According to a study published in Physical Review Journals, the LHC managed to produce a staggering 86 billion gold nuclei between 2015 and 2018. That’s equivalent to around 29 trillionths of a gram of gold. Most of these newly formed gold atoms only lasted about a microsecond before they either collided with something or decayed into other particles.
Gold was being created every time lead beams collided at the LHC, but only the ALICE experiment was equipped to spot this phenomenon. Uliana Dmitrieva, a physicist and member of the ALICE collaboration, mentioned that this analysis was the first to systematically detect and analyze the gold production at the LHC experimentally.
Not really sure why this matters, but another CERN accelerator called the SPS previously observed lead turning into gold from 2002 to 2004. However, the latest experiments at the LHC are on a whole other level in terms of energy and efficiency. Jiangyong Jia, a physicist at Stony Brook University in New York, pointed out that the newer experiments have a much higher probability of creating gold and provide clearer observations.
Despite the success in turning lead into gold, CERN researchers don’t have any plans to start a gold-making business on the side. Instead, they see this achievement as a way to improve the performance of the LHC by understanding how photons can alter nuclei. Jia emphasized that comprehending these processes is essential for maintaining beam quality and stability.
In conclusion, the scientists at CERN managed to achieve a feat that was once the stuff of legends. By briefly turning lead into gold, they have opened up new possibilities for particle physics research. Who knows what other miraculous transformations they might uncover in the future?
And that’s a wrap on this fascinating story of science and alchemy at the world’s largest particle collider.
