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Scientists at CERN's Awesomely Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have transformed lead into gold, a feat that would have amazed medieval alchemists. The ALICE collaboration uses near-miss collisions to convert lead to gold at a rate of 89,000 atoms per second. Although each gold atom lasted barely a fraction of a second, the experiment demonstrates the accuracy of contemporary particle physics. This demonstrates the LHC's increasing capacity to alter atomic structure.
CERN scientists create gold from lead via proton removal at the LHC—but only for a split second
CERN reports that lead nuclei are stripped of three protons, resulting in gold. The unusual metamorphoses happened as lead atoms just missed one other, causing intense electric and magnetic forces that may have swapped particles. ALICE project leader Marco Van Leeuwen stated that their detectors will catch both big and small particle events, emphasizing the importance of observing subtle changes.
Despite the amazing atom-per-second count, the total quantity of gold generated between 2015 and 2018 was just 29 picograms, significantly less than what the human eye can see. Uliana Dmitrieva, a physicist from the collaboration, stated that this is the first detection of this sort of gold creation at the LHC using modern detectors. Although subsequent modifications have nearly increased output, gold remains a symbol of science rather than economics.
The discoveries are more significant than just being innovative. According to physicist John Jowett, this involves fine-tuning electromagnetic dissociation in theoretical models to anticipate beam losses. This is crucial for enhancing the LHC and future colliders. Commercial alchemy advances our grasp of particle manipulation and atomic physics, despite being considered science fiction.
This gold artifact exemplifies both human inventiveness and technological advancements since the alchemists' time.
