Physicists Just Transformed Lead Into Gold for the First Time Ever!

Medieval alchemists spent centuries chasing an impossible dream: transforming dull, abundant lead into gleaming, precious gold. Armed with primitive furnaces, mysterious potions, and boundless optimism, they pursued chrysopoeia – the legendary art of turning base metals into treasure.

Scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider just accomplished what those ancient dreamers never could. Published in Physical Review Journals, the ALICE collaboration has systematically detected and measured the transmutation of lead into gold using the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.

Unlike alchemists heating metals in crude laboratories, modern physicists achieved this transformation through near-miss collisions between lead nuclei traveling at nearly the speed of light. Intense electromagnetic fields generated during these encounters strip away precisely three protons from lead atoms, creating fleeting quantities of gold nuclei.

How Scientists Stumbled Upon Modern Alchemy

ALICE researchers weren’t trying to create precious metals when they made this discovery. Built to study quark-gluon plasma – the hot, dense matter that filled the universe microseconds after the Big Bang – the detector accidentally revealed something extraordinary happening during routine experiments.

Between 2015 and 2018, while lead nuclei missed direct collision and passed near each other, electromagnetic forces created conditions no medieval alchemist could have imagined. Lead nuclei racing at 99.999993% of light speed generated electromagnetic fields so intense they could knock protons out of atomic nuclei.

During these near-miss encounters, the LHC produced gold at maximum rates of approximately 89,000 nuclei per second. Over the course of four years of operation across all major experiments, approximately 86 billion gold nuclei were created from lead-lead collisions.

Zero-degree calorimeters within the ALICE detector counted particles emerging from these electromagnetic interactions, systematically identifying when exactly zero, one, two, or three protons were ejected alongside neutrons. Removing three protons from lead’s 82-proton nucleus creates gold’s distinctive 79-proton structure.

“It is impressive to see that our detectors can handle head-on collisions producing thousands of particles, while also being sensitive to collisions where only a few particles are produced at a time, enabling the study of electromagnetic ‘nuclear transmutation’ processes,” explains Marco Van Leeuwen, ALICE spokesperson.

Gold That Exists for Nanoseconds

Anyone hoping to strike it rich from particle physics gold will face a disappointing reality. Gold nuclei created at the LHC exist for mere fractions of seconds before disintegrating completely.

Born with extremely high energy from near-light-speed collisions, these gold nuclei immediately slam into beam pipes or collimators positioned downstream from collision points. Upon impact, they fragment instantly into individual protons, neutrons, and other particles, leaving no recoverable gold behind.

Total gold production during LHC Run 2 amounted to approximately 29 picograms – that’s 2.9 × 10^-11 grams, or about 29 trillionths of a gram. Even with LHC Run 3 producing nearly double this quantity, the combined output remains trillions of times smaller than the amounts needed for even the tiniest piece of jewelry.

Medieval alchemists dreaming of golden riches would find their hopes thoroughly dashed by modern physics and economics. Production costs for LHC-generated gold exceed the value of actual gold by astronomical margins.

How Electromagnetic Fields Create Nuclear Transmutation

Understanding how lead becomes gold requires grasping the physics of electromagnetic dissociation, a process that was previously impossible until humanity developed particle accelerators capable of approaching light-speed collisions.

When lead nuclei travel at near-light velocity, their electromagnetic field lines compress into thin, pancake-shaped configurations perpendicular to their direction of motion. During near-miss encounters, these compressed fields create short-lived pulses of high-energy photons.

Photons interacting with lead nuclei excite internal oscillations within atomic structures, similar to ringing a bell with varying frequencies. Some oscillations prove violent enough to eject small numbers of protons and neutrons from the nucleus entirely.

Creating gold specifically requires removing exactly three protons while leaving the remaining nuclear structure intact. Too few protons removed produce thallium or mercury; too many create platinum or other elements entirely.

Computer models based on the RELDIS theoretical framework predicted these electromagnetic transmutation processes; however, actual measurements revealed interesting discrepancies between the theory and experimental results for specific patterns of particle emission.

More Than Just Gold: Creating Entire Periodic Table Elements

Lead-to-gold conversion represents just one of the many transformations that occur during electromagnetic dissociation events. Particle physicists simultaneously create multiple elements by removing different numbers of protons from lead nuclei.

Ejecting one proton produces thallium (atomic number 81), while removing two protons creates mercury (atomic number 80). Each element emerges with various isotope combinations depending on neutron emission patterns accompanying proton removal.

Production rates vary significantly among different elements. Thallium formation occurs more frequently than mercury creation, which in turn appears more often than gold production. Cross-section measurements – a term in physics referring to reaction probability – show gold production rates reaching 6.8 barns, comparable to the total hadronic collision frequencies.

Specific isotope production depends on neutron multiplicities. Single-proton removal, combined with one, two, or three neutron emissions, creates thallium isotopes Tl-206, Tl-205, and Tl-204, respectively. Each isotope carries unique nuclear properties and decay characteristics.

Theoretical models struggle to accurately predict some observed production patterns. Measured cross-sections for certain proton-neutron combinations exceeded RELDIS model predictions by factors of two to three, suggesting gaps in current understanding of high-energy photonuclear processes.

“Medieval vs. Modern” – Alchemists vs. Particle Physicists

Medieval alchemists possessed keen observational skills, despite lacking the concept of atomic theory. They correctly noted that lead and gold share similar densities, making transmutation seem plausible through chemical manipulation.

Only centuries later did scientists realize that chemical processes cannot alter atomic numbers – the fundamental property that distinguishes one element from another. Lead contains 82 protons per nucleus; gold includes 79. Chemical reactions rearrange electron bonds but leave nuclear structures completely unchanged.

Nuclear physics development in the 20th century revealed that heavy elements could indeed transform through radioactive decay or laboratory bombardment with neutrons and protons. Previous artificial gold creation succeeded through these nuclear reaction methods, but never via electromagnetic field interactions.

“The transmutation of lead into gold is the dream of medieval alchemists which comes true at the LHC,” noted researchers in their published findings.

LHC represents an entirely novel mechanism for elemental transmutation. Rather than bombarding targets with particle beams, electromagnetic fields generated during near-miss collisions provide the energy needed for nuclear restructuring.

Medieval alchemists would marvel at achieving their ultimate goal through methods they could never have conceived. However, their dreams of wealth creation remain as elusive today as during the Middle Ages.

Practical Problems, Cosmic Solutions

Creating picograms of short-lived gold nuclei might seem academically interesting but practically irrelevant. However, electromagnetic dissociation research addresses critical challenges facing current and future particle accelerators.

Beam losses represent significant limitations on LHC performance and design constraints for next-generation colliders. When particles deviate from intended trajectories and strike accelerator components, they create radiation, heating, and equipment damage that reduces operational efficiency.

Understanding electromagnetic dissociation helps predict when and how lead nuclei will fragment during acceleration, allowing engineers to position collimators and shielding more effectively. Better loss predictions enable higher luminosity operations and longer equipment lifespans.

“The results also test and improve theoretical models of electromagnetic dissociation which, beyond their intrinsic physics interest, are used to understand and predict beam losses that are a major limit on the performance of the LHC and future colliders,” adds John Jowett of the ALICE collaboration.

Gold isotope production offers insights into the mechanisms of photonuclear reactions that occur throughout the universe. Similar processes happen during stellar nucleosynthesis, cosmic ray interactions, and other high-energy astrophysical phenomena.

Data from these experiments help validate theoretical frameworks used to model exotic nuclear processes that are impossible to study through conventional laboratory methods.

Beyond the Gold Rush: What This Breakthrough Means Tomorrow

LHC Run 3 operations have already produced nearly double the gold quantities generated during Run 2, demonstrating that continued improvements in accelerator performance directly translate to enhanced nuclear transmutation capabilities.

Systematic studies of electromagnetic dissociation could eventually enable controlled production of rare isotopes needed for medical applications, scientific research, or industrial processes. While current yields remain infinitesimally small, understanding the underlying physics opens possibilities for optimization.

Fundamental physics applications extend beyond practical engineering concerns. Electromagnetic dissociation recreates conditions similar to those existing during the first microseconds following the Big Bang, when intense electromagnetic fields permeated the expanding universe.

Medieval alchemists achieved technical success through modern particle physics, though their economic motivations remain unfulfilled. Today’s physicists pursue knowledge rather than wealth, finding treasure in understanding nature’s fundamental processes rather than creating precious metals.

Future generations may likely develop technologies making large-scale nuclear transmutation economically viable. Until then, the ancient dream of transforming lead into gold remains a fascinating demonstration of how far human understanding has progressed since the Middle Ages.