Scientists temporarily turn lead into gold using the Large Hadron Collider

Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have fulfilled the dream of medieval alchemists by turning lead into gold, albeit only for a split second, Engadget reports.

During experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, they managed to achieve a rare effect where a lead nucleus lost enough protons and temporarily became gold.

Since lead has only three more protons than gold, sometimes during collisions in a collider, lead atoms lose just enough protons to instantly become gold atoms—though only for a fraction of a second, after which they decay into many particles.

In studies conducted between 2015 and 2018, scientists were able to obtain only 29 picograms of gold. In the latest experiments, this amount has almost doubled. Although these are extremely small volumes, they are of great importance for studying the physical processes that occur during particle collisions. CERN emphasizes: the goal is not enrichment, but a deeper understanding of the structure of matter.