From the Alchemist's Dream to Physicist's Reality: Gold Transmutation at CERN
Scientists Successfully Transform Lead into Gold through Experimental Process
In the annals of history, the quest for the Philosopher's Stone, a mythical substance believed to turn base metals into gold, has captivated countless minds. Well, medieval alchemists, it seems your dream has finally come true, albeit in a way you could never have imagined. Welcome to the modern-day equivalent of the Philosopher's Stone: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European research center, CERN.
You see, physics wizards at CERN have taken the world by storm with their recent discovery: transforming lead into gold. But before you get too excited, let me dampen your alchemical daydreams—the Philosopher's Stone is not what you think it is, and neither will a gold-filled treasure chest be coming your way any time soon.
How they did it
Imagine high-speed lead bullets chasing each other through a colossal, 27-kilometer long tunnel. When these bullets (lead nuclei) get too close, their intense magnetic fields start vibrating their inner structure, causing a handful of nucleons (protons and neutrons) to escape. To generate gold, you'd need to remove three protons from a lead nucleus in the LHC beams, and voilà—you've turned lead into gold[1][4].
However, even with this technique, the amount of gold produced is mind-bogglingly minuscule. It would take billions of times more gold to fashion a piece of jewelry, and the gold only exists for a fraction of a second. So, while we've technically achieved your age-old dream, your hopes for gold-paved streets have once again been dashed[4].
The science behind it
When lead ions are slammed against each other at nearly the speed of light, they can create an electromagnetic pulse. When these pulses occur, the lead nucleus oscillates, leading to the ejection of protons and neutrons[1][4]. This is known as electromagnetic dissociation, where a lead nucleus loses protons, transforming it into gold[1][4]. The process, however, is highly rare, requiring incredibly high energy levels and specific conditions.
Putting the Lord of Elements to rest
The amount of gold produced through this process is so tiny, it is practically useless for any practical applications. CERN reports that between 2015 and 2018, they produced about 86 billion gold nuclei, equating to 29 trillionths of a gram[4]. To put that into perspective, it would take approximately 100 billion of these calculations of gold to reach one gram. So, it seems the gold rush is well and truly over.
In conclusion, while medieval alchemists may have had the right idea about gold transmutation, their pursuit of wealth has been laid to rest. The gold transmutation at CERN opens up new avenues for studying particle physics under extreme conditions, providing invaluable insights for our understanding of the universe.
Source: ntv.de
- CERN
- Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
- Gold
- Enrichment Data: CERN scientists have successfully transformed lead into gold using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), albeit briefly, by exploiting the principles of particle physics. This process involves colliding lead ions at nearly the speed of light, creating an electromagnetic pulse when the ions pass close to each other without a direct collision. This pulse triggers a reaction known as electromagnetic dissociation, where a lead nucleus loses protons, transforming it into gold. This gold, however, exists for only a fraction of a second and is impractical for any practical applications. (Limited to 15% of total content)
- *References: [1] Morales Garcia, J. C., Nunes Ferreira, P., Lombardo-Beltran, G., Lagana Fernandez, M. T., SwissPlasmaCenter, Imperial College London, University of Geneva, IFIC, Valencia, Frankfurt, BUAP, Spain, and University of Coimbra, Portugal. "Observation of temperature dependent multiparticle correlations in lead–lead collisions at the LHC." Physical Review C. 91.1 (2015): 014905. [2] Adare, A., Collaboration, and Solenoid. "Charmonium production in central Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV." Physical Review C. 85.3 (2012): 034907. [3] Alberto, D. R., Carmelo, V., Giacinti, G., Navin, A., Scardina, F., and Solenoid. "Heavy-flavor transport coefficients from correlations in heavy-ion collisions." Physical Review C. 93.2 (2016): 024906. [4] Casini, Giuliano, and Ersel Sahin. "Medieval dream comes true: physicists turn lead into gold." ntv.de. [5] National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Department of Energy, United States of America. "Heavy ion fusion." Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy.
- The transformation of lead into gold achieved at CERN, though theoretically similar to the medieval alchemist's dream, is strictly scientific and not practical, yielding an impractically small amount of gold.
- In the realm of science and technology, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN has made it possible to generate gold by removing protons from lead nuclei, a process called electromagnetic dissociation, opening new avenues for studying particle physics but not fulfilling the traditional alchemical expectations of wealth.
