Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have made an unexpected breakthrough by creating tiny amounts of gold through a process that mimics the conditions of the universe after the Big Bang. The scientists were attempting to recreate the state of matter just after the universe’s inception, but they stumbled upon an unintended outcome.
The discovery was made by smashing lead atoms at extremely high speeds in an effort to replicate the early universe’s energetic collisions. This led to the creation of small amounts of gold, with a total yield of approximately 29 trillionths of a gram.
To understand how this happened, scientists needed to manipulate protons within the nucleus of the lead atom. Protons are held together by a strong nuclear force and have an electric charge, allowing them to be pulled out using an extremely powerful electric field – about a million times stronger than lightning bolts.
However, achieving such a strong field was challenging. The researchers used beams of lead nuclei fired at each other almost at the speed of light, creating a near-miss scenario that would typically destroy the nuclei due to their strong nuclear force. Instead, the rapidly changing electric fields between the nuclei made them vibrate and release protons.
If one proton is stripped from a lead nucleus, it transforms into gold. The researchers used detectors called zero-degree calorimeters to count the protons released during these collisions, which produced approximately 89,000 gold nuclei per second.
While this accidental alchemy might seem like a nuisance due to its effect on the beam’s intensity, scientists see it as an essential step in understanding their experiments and designing future ones.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/large-hadron-collider-lead-gold-b2749928.html