In a groundbreaking achievement that echoes the age-old quest of alchemists, scientists at CERN’s ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) have successfully transmuted lead into gold. This remarkable feat was accomplished during high-energy collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where lead nuclei were accelerated to near-light speeds and made to collide. These collisions resulted in the production of gold-203 nuclei, albeit in infinitesimal quantities and for fleeting moments.
The process, known as electromagnetic dissociation, involves lead-208 nuclei passing close to each other without direct contact. Their intense electromagnetic fields interact, leading to the emission of photons that can knock out protons and neutrons from the nuclei. In rare instances, this results in the formation of gold-203 nuclei.
During experiments conducted between 2015 and 2018, the ALICE team observed the creation of approximately 270 billion gold-203 nuclei. However, the total mass of gold produced was minuscule—only about 29 picograms (a trillionth of a gram)—and the gold nuclei decayed almost instantaneously.
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While this achievement is a testament to the capabilities of modern particle physics, it holds no practical application for its production. The process is highly inefficient and the quantities produced are negligible. Nonetheless, the experiment provides valuable insights into nuclear reactions and the behavior of matter under extreme conditions, contributing to our understanding of the universe’s fundamental laws.