Scientists Transform Lead into Gold 181e4r But Only for a Fleeting Moment

CERN scientists transformed lead into gold by removing protons, just for a split second. 4d5r2g

Written by Rohan Pal | Updated: 20 May 2025 22:44 IST

Scientists Transform Lead into Gold, But Only for a Fleeting Moment

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons o1y2q

CERN’s LHC briefly produces gold by removing protons from lead atoms

Highlights

Scientists briefly converted lead into gold at CERN's Large Hadron Coll
The ALICE experiment created 89,000 gold atoms per second using near mi
Gold atoms formed at LHC lasted only a split second before breaking dow

ment

Medieval alchemists would have been stunned to see lead turned into gold – but that's what scientists at CERN's Awesomely Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have done. Through near-miss collisions rather than head-on atomic bashes, the team at the ALICE collaboration can convert lead to gold at a rate of 89,000 atoms each second. Although each gold atom survived only a tiny fraction of a second, the experiment is a testament to the precision of modern particle physics. It serves as a testament to the LHC's growing ability to change the very structure of the atom.

CERN Scientists Create Gold from Lead Using Proton Removal at LHC—But Only for a Split Second 3t3n3a

As per the magnetic fields that could have shuffled the particles. Their detectors would work on both large and small particle-event scales “because it's the small ones that you need to see that those tiny changes would be different,” ALICE project chief Marco Van Leeuwen mentioned.

Despite the astonishing atom-per-second count, the total mass of gold created between 2015 and 2018 added up to just 29 picograms — far less than visible to the naked eye. Uliana Dmitrieva, a physicist from the collaboration, highlighted that it represents the first observation of this type of gold production at the LHC and with their sophisticated detectors. Though recent upgrades have almost doubled output, the gold remains more symbolic, scientifically, than economically.

Scientists Unlock Quantum Control of Atomic Collisions at Warmer Temperatures

The findings have a broader significance than mere novelty. As physicist John Jowett explains, this is fine-tuning of electromagnetic dissociation in theoretical models, and it helps estimate beam losses, which are important for improving the LHC as well as future colliders. While commercial alchemy remains in the realm of science fiction, it helps push forward the understanding of particle manipulation and atomic science.

This transient artifice of gold illustrates not only human creativity but the distance technology today has travelled from the desires of the alchemists of old.

Comments

For the latest reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.