CERN scientists achieved a crucial scientific milestone by incidentally transforming lead into temporary gold nuclei using the Large Hadron Collider. While experimenting with collisions of lead nuclei, they observed that when the nuclei grazed each other, it triggered a process called electromagnetic dissociation, releasing three protons and creating gold nuclei. Despite producing 86 billion gold nuclei between 2015 and 2018, the total yield was minusculeâabout 29 trillionths of a gram. Though impractical for gold production, the discovery offers valuable insights for future research in nuclear physics.
The researchers are part of CERN's A Large Ion Collider Experiment project, which involves scientists smashing atomic particles together at close to the speed of light.
The discovery, an incidental outcome, occurs when lead nuclei graze each other, causing the release of three protons through electromagnetic dissociation.
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