Lead-to-Gold Transmutation:
CERN’s ALICE detector has experimentally confirmed the conversion of lead into gold through a process of nuclear transmutation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
- The concept of turning lead into gold, known as chrysopoeia, was a medieval alchemist’s dream, based on the similar density of the two metals, but modern science clarified that they are distinct chemical elements and chemical methods cannot achieve such a transformation.
- Gold nuclei (Au-203) are created when three protons and two neutrons are ejected from lead nuclei (Pb-208) during ultra-peripheral collisions in the LHC, where nuclei pass close without directly colliding.
- These near-miss collisions generate strong electromagnetic fields due to the 82 protons in each lead nucleus moving at 999993% of the speed of light, compressing the field into a short-lived photon pulse.
- The process, called electromagnetic dissociation, triggers internal nuclear oscillations, causing the emission of protons and neutrons.
- The ALICE detector utilises Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDCs) to identify photon–nucleus interactions and detect the ejection of zero, one, two, or three protons, linked to the formation of lead, thallium, mercury, and gold, respectively.
- This is the first systematic experimental detection of gold creation at the LHC, thanks to ALICE’s high precision in recording both high-energy and rare low-particle
- The LHC is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, built by CERN to study fundamental particles and test predictions of the Standard Model.
