Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider turned lead into gold – by accident

In medieval times, alchemists aimed to turn lead into gold, but we now understand that these are different elements and cannot be chemically converted into one another. The distinction lies in the number of protons in their atoms: a lead atom has three more protons than a gold atom. Scientists have managed to create gold atoms by extracting three protons from lead atoms, a challenging process accomplished through high-speed collisions of lead atoms at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

Protons, located in an atom’s nucleus, can be manipulated with electric fields due to their electric charge. However, the strong nuclear force that binds nuclei together necessitates an incredibly powerful electric field to remove protons. By firing lead nuclei at each other at near-light speeds, scientists generate a massive electric field that can cause lead atoms to release protons, transforming them into gold.

The transformation process involves lead nuclei colliding head-on, leading to their destruction through the strong nuclear force, or having a near miss and interacting via the electromagnetic force. By detecting the protons stripped from lead nuclei using zero-degree calorimeters, scientists can indirectly confirm the creation of gold nuclei during these collisions. Although the accidental production of gold at the collider causes a decrease in beam intensity over time, the insight gained from this phenomenon is crucial for future experiments.