Latest news with #ALICEZDCs
New York Post
14-05-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Physicists turn lead into gold in scientific first
Alchemists eat your heart out. Researchers at CERN's Large Hadron Collider achieved the once-impossible dream of alchemists by turning lead into gold — but only for a split second. The world's largest particle accelerator shocked the scientific world by transmuting particles of the base metal into the precious metal through a newly-innovated mechanism that utilized near-miss interactions, the organization said in a statement. CERN experiments usually slam particles together at extreme speeds as researchers glean what they can from the split-second interactions of tiny elements in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the material nature of the universe. CERN's Large Hadron Collider transmuted lead into gold using a near-miss of two nuclei of the base metal. CERN To manifest the gold nuclei, CERN nerds didn't slam the particles together — instead, they crafted a near-miss between lead nuclei particles, allowing the almost-contact to generate a transmuting electromagnetic field. 'The electromagnetic field emanating from a lead nucleus is particularly strong because the nucleus contains 82 protons, each carrying an elementary charge,' CERN said. 'To create gold (a nucleus containing 79 protons), three protons must be removed from a lead nucleus in the [Large Hadron Collider] beams.' When the lead nuclei are accelerated to '99.999993% of the speed of light,' they 'pancake' and experience short-lived pulses of photons called 'electromagnetic dissociation' that can alter the internal structure of the particles. 'Thanks to the unique capabilities of the ALICE ZDCs, the present analysis is the first to systematically detect and analyze the signature of gold production at the LHC experimentally,' said Uliana Dmitrieave of CERN, according to the release. CERN scientists measured 86 billion gold nuclei in four major experiments — which amounts to just 29 picograms of the substance and which existed only for a tiny fraction of a second. CERN researchers said the amount of gold they manifested was too minuscule to satisfy the desired riches of ancient alchemists. misunseo – 'While the dream of medieval alchemists has technically come true, their hopes of riches have once again been dashed,' the organization wrote in the release. The Large Hadron Collider is a 17-mile-long, oval-shaped tunnel buried 574 feet underground on the France-Switzerland border near Geneva used to research sub-atomic particles and the origins of the universe. In 2022, scientists discovered three new subatomic particles — the 'pentaquark' and a pair of 'tetraquarks.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists turn lead into gold for 1st time, but only for a split second
In a breakthrough that would make medieval alchemists envious, scientists at Europe's Large Hadron Collider have successfully transformed lead into gold, producing 89,000 atoms per second. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a giant particle accelerator that smashes atoms together at super-high speeds. Scientists there have found a way to knock three tiny particles called protons out of lead atoms, turning them into gold atoms. The team behind this discovery, called the ALICE collaboration, used a unique way to create gold. Instead of crashing lead atoms head-on, they looked at what happens when the atoms just barely miss each other. Researchers explained that when this happens, powerful electromagnetic fields around the atoms can cause them to change into different elements. MORE: Scientists solve mystery of 'zombie' volcano displaying signs of eruption for decades "It's impressive that our detectors can handle both major collisions that create thousands of particles and these smaller events that make just a few particles at a time," Marco Van Leeuwen, who leads the ALICE project, said in a press release. During one period of experiments from 2015 to 2018, the scientists created about 86 billion gold atoms. That sounds like a lot, but when you add up all that gold, scientists said it only weighs about 29 picograms, which is less than a trillionth of a gram. You'd need trillions of times more to make even a tiny piece of jewelry. The machine can create about 89,000 gold atoms every second, but each atom only exists for a tiny fraction of a second before breaking apart. Recent upgrades to the machine have almost doubled the amount of gold it can make, but it's still far from practical use. MORE: FAA launches emergency task force to ensure safety flying in and out of Newark According to Uliana Dmitrieva, a scientist for the ALICE collaboration, this is the first time scientists have been able to detect and study gold production at the LHC in this way. "Thanks to the unique capabilities of the ALICE ZDCs, the present analysis is the first to systematically detect and analyse the signature of gold production at the LHC experimentally," Dmitrieva said in the release. John Jowett, another scientist on the team, said that these experiments help them understand how particles behave, which is important for improving the LHC and building future particle colliders. "The results also test and improve theoretical models of electromagnetic dissociation, which, beyond their intrinsic physics interest, are used to understand and predict beam losses that are a major limit on the performance of the LHC and future colliders," Jowett said in the release. Scientists turn lead into gold for 1st time, but only for a split second originally appeared on
13-05-2025
- Science
Scientists turn lead into gold for 1st time, but only for a split second
In a breakthrough that would make medieval alchemists envious, scientists at Europe's Large Hadron Collider have successfully transformed lead into gold, producing 89,000 atoms per second. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a giant particle accelerator that smashes atoms together at super-high speeds. Scientists there have found a way to knock three tiny particles called protons out of lead atoms, turning them into gold atoms. The team behind this discovery, called the ALICE collaboration, used a unique way to create gold. Instead of crashing lead atoms head-on, they looked at what happens when the atoms just barely miss each other. Researchers explained that when this happens, powerful electromagnetic fields around the atoms can cause them to change into different elements. "It's impressive that our detectors can handle both major collisions that create thousands of particles and these smaller events that make just a few particles at a time," Marco Van Leeuwen, who leads the ALICE project, said in a press release. How much gold did they make? During one period of experiments from 2015 to 2018, the scientists created about 86 billion gold atoms. That sounds like a lot, but when you add up all that gold, scientists said it only weighs about 29 picograms, which is less than a trillionth of a gram and about an ounce. You'd need trillions of times more to make even a tiny piece of jewelry. The machine can create about 89,000 gold atoms every second, but each atom only exists for a tiny fraction of a second before breaking apart. Recent upgrades to the machine have almost doubled the amount of gold it can make, but it's still far from practical use. According to Uliana Dmitrieva, a scientist for the ALICE collaboration, this is the first time scientists have been able to detect and study gold production at the LHC in this way. "Thanks to the unique capabilities of the ALICE ZDCs, the present analysis is the first to systematically detect and analyse the signature of gold production at the LHC experimentally," Dmitrieva said in the release. The research isn't just about making gold John Jowett, another scientist on the team, said that these experiments help them understand how particles behave, which is important for improving the LHC and building future particle colliders. "The results also test and improve theoretical models of electromagnetic dissociation, which, beyond their intrinsic physics interest, are used to understand and predict beam losses that are a major limit on the performance of the LHC and future colliders," Jowett said in the release.
