May 17, 2025
In a discovery that echoes ancient alchemical dreams, scientists at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have managed to create gold atoms from lead. Using the powerful particle accelerator to smash atoms at near light-speed, the ALICE collaboration team found that when lead atoms narrowly miss each other—rather than colliding head-on—intense electromagnetic fields can knock out three protons from the lead atoms, effectively transforming them into gold. This method allows for the production of roughly 89,000 gold atoms every second, though each atom only exists briefly before disintegrating. Between 2015 and 2018, the team produced approximately 86 billion gold atoms—an amount that weighs just 29 picograms, far too little for any practical use.
While the quantity of gold is minuscule, the breakthrough offers valuable insight into atomic behavior under extreme conditions. According to lead scientists Marco Van Leeuwen and Uliana Dmitrieva, this is the first time such gold production has been systematically detected and analyzed at the LHC, thanks to the advanced capabilities of the ALICE ZDCs. The research serves a larger purpose beyond gold creation. As John Jowett explained, the findings help refine theoretical models and improve predictions of beam behavior—crucial knowledge for enhancing the performance of the LHC and future particle colliders.
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SOURCE: ABC News