THE MODERN ALCHEMY: HOW LEAD BECOMES GOLD AT CERN; THE TRANSFORMATION OCCURRED DURING THE ALICE EXPERIMENT, AT ONE OF THE LHC’S FOUR MAJOR INSTALLATIONS. UNLIKE THE MYSTICAL PROCESSES IMAGINED BY MEDIEVAL ALCHEMISTS, THIS MODERN TRANSMUTATION RELIES ON CUTTING-EDGE PHYSICS. SCIENTISTS PROPELLED LEAD NUCLEI AT VELOCITIES APPROACHING THE SPEED OF LIGHT, CREATING NEAR-COLLISIONS THAT GENERATE IMMENSE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS. WHEN THESE LEAD NUCLEI, CONTAINING 82 PROTONS EACH, LOSE THREE PROTONS IN THE SUBATOMIC STORM, THEY BECOME GOLD NUCLEI WITH 79 PROTONS. LEAD; GOLD; This process represents the literal fulfillment of the alchemical dream through purely natural processes. The Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZDC) detected and confirmed these transmutations amid the chaotic particle interactions.
