Physicists Accidentally Create Gold from Lead in Large Hadron Collider Experiment

britfrief ^ | 01 20 2026 | Staff

[yesthatjallen]

In a remarkable twist that bridges ancient ambition with cutting-edge science, physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider have achieved what medieval alchemists only dreamed of: turning lead into gold. While attempting to recreate conditions moments after the Big Bang, researchers on the ALICE experiment in Switzerland inadvertently produced minuscule quantities of the precious metal, marking an unexpected breakthrough in particle physics.

The Accidental Discovery

The extraordinary transformation occurred during experiments where beams of lead nuclei were fired at each other at velocities approaching the speed of light. While the primary goal was to study the primordial state of the universe, the scientists discovered they had created approximately 29 trillionths of a gram of gold as a byproduct of their collisions.

This modern alchemy works on a fundamental principle: lead atoms contain exactly three more protons than gold atoms. By removing precisely three protons from a lead nucleus, the element transforms into gold. The challenge lies in the immense forces required to achieve this proton removal.

SNIP

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TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: alchemy; alice; cern; collider; gold; lead; lhc; physics; protons; science

[HYPOCRACY]

I made a lot more gold from straw using magic.

[noiseman]

And just like that, “supercollider” goes on next year’s Christmas list.

[airborne]

"...scientists discovered they had created approximately 29 trillionths of a gram of gold..."

And it only costed millions to figure it out!

[PUGACHEV]

“Gold’s collapse is inevitable, either by molecular machines, or via mining of asteroids.

If gold were suddenly to become both common and affordable, the value of an ounce of gold would certainly collapse, but its value as an industrial commodity may actually skyrocket. Consider the case of aluminum. The top of the Washington Monument is crowned by a small pyramid of pure aluminum, because at the time it placed there, aluminum was more precious than gold. A few decades later, several methods were discovered to refine aluminum ore and its price fell, just as the price of gold would if its supply were to expand dramatically. However, like aluminum, gold has so many uses and unique properties, that were it common and more affordable, demand for gold would also expand dramatically. Where once there was no aluminum industry because of its scarcity, today aluminum mining, refining, and manufacture is a huge generator of wealth. We might expect same thing may happen if gold were to become as affordable as aluminum is today.

[oldtech]

This article reminded me of an old cartoon I can’t find anymore. It was about Obama,called the Barachemist..Obama turning gold into dung. Good one.

[Rad_J]

That’s nothing. My duck lays golden eggs!

[Sawdring]

Yeah, 29 trillionths of a gram at a time.

[Theophilus]

Google AI says: “There are approximately 8.86 \(\times \) 10\({}^{1}0\) atoms in 29 trillionths of a gram of gold.”

[Revel]

The Rip Van Winkle Caper

[DennisR]

That is a very expensive, paltry amount of gold.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Hyperbole: miniscule amounts of gold.

4 atoms maybe two?

[clearcarbon]

"Physicists Accidentally Create Gold from Lead in Large Hadron Collider Experiment"

Lead just made its first tiny step toward becoming a precious metal.

[Pennsyltucky Boy]

To hell with building data centers. Let’s build high speed colliders and make gold!