Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider accidentally turned lead into gold while trying to recreate the Big Bang.
Researchers working on the “Alice” experiment at Cern, Switzerland, have produced a rare precious metal as they try to recreate conditions from shortly after the universe began.
Medieval alchemists had tried to turn lead into gold for centuries to no avail – but modern scientists achieved this feat by smashing the primordial atoms together at extraordinarily high speeds.
However, their yield was small, about 29 trillionths of a gram.
For a long time alchemists believed that they could change base metals such as lead or copper into gold or silver through chemical processes.
They even thought that they could find a cure for a disease or a way to prolong life.
This practice, which originated in ancient Egypt, India and China, eventually took hold in Britain and Europe during the Middle Ages.
At the time, it was a surprise, but it eventually laid the foundation for many of the methods used in modern chemistry.
Nowadays, scientists know for sure that lead and gold are different substances – one atom of lead has three more protons in its nucleus than one atom of gold.
For a long time alchemists believed that they could turn base metals such as lead or copper into gold or silver through chemical processes.
|
GETTY
Removing protons from the nucleus requires overcoming the strong force that binds the particles together with a supermassive force – the kind that exists in the LHC.
Electric fields can control protons because of their charge, but the required field strength is a million times stronger than lightning.
Cern scientists produce these extreme conditions by accelerating lead nuclei to speeds approaching the speed of light.
They looked specifically at high-energy collisions between nuclei to simulate the extreme heat and energy that would have been experienced in the fractions of a second after the Big Bang.
When two nuclei collide rather than collide head-on, the electromagnetic force between them becomes unusually strong.
SCIENTIFIC IMAGES – READ MORE:
Researchers working at the Alice Cern experiment in Switzerland have produced a small amount of gold
|
WIKIMEDIA Eligibility
This proximity creates rapidly changing fields that cause nuclei to vibrate and can tear protons from the atom completely.
A lead nucleus that loses exactly three protons turns into gold, completing a transformation that alchemists have only ever sought in chemistry.
At the LHC, Alice experiments produce about 89,000 gold nuclei every second during operation.
Researchers have also observed the creation of other elements, including thallium when one proton is removed, and mercury when two protons are removed.
Seeing gold with the naked eye has so far been impossible for the scientists involved.
Alice’s experiment produces about 89,000 gold nuclei every second – even though it’s nowhere to be seen.
|
WIKIMEDIA Eligibility
Instead, the team relies on special instruments called zero-degree calorimeters to count how many protons are emitted.
A head-on collision between lead nuclei results in total destruction due to the nuclear force.
However, near misses can change roles completely.
Once the lead nucleus loses its protons, it deviates from the path required to rotate through the collider’s vacuum tube.
Within fractions of a second, these modified nuclei collide with the walls of the tube.
This collision effect gradually reduces the power of the beam over time.
#Scientific #breakthrough #researchers #accidentally #turn #lead #gold #recreate #Big #Bang