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Turning Lead Into
Gold
How to Turn Lead Into Gold
by Anne
Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Before chemistry was a
science, there was alchemy. One of the supreme quests of alchemy was to
transmute (transform) lead into gold.
Lead (atomic number 82) and gold (atomic number 79) are defined as elements by
the number of protons they possess.
Changing the element requires
changing the atomic (proton) number. The number of protons cannot be altered by
any chemical means.
However, physics may be used
to add or remove protons and thereby change one element into another.
Because lead is stable,
forcing it to release three protons requires a vast input of energy, such that
the cost of transmuting it greatly surpasses the value of the resulting gold.
History
Transmutation
of lead into gold isn't just theoretically possible; it has been achieved!
There are reports that Glenn
Seaborg, 1951 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, succeeded in transmuting a minute
quantity of lead (possibly en route from bismuth, in 1980) into gold.
There is an earlier report
(1972) in which Soviet physicists at a nuclear research facility near Lake
Baikal in Siberia accidentally discovered a reaction for turning lead into gold
when they found the lead shielding of an experimental reactor had changed to
gold.
Transmutation Today
Today
particle accelerators routinely transmute elements. A charged particle is
accelerated using electrical and magnetic fields.
In a linear accelerator, the
charged particles drift through a series of charged tubes separated by gaps.
Every time the particle
emerges between gaps, it is accelerated by the potential difference between
adjacent segments.
In a circular accelerator,
magnetic fields accelerate particles moving in circular paths.
In either case, the
accelerated particle impacts a target material, potentially knocking free
protons or neutrons and making a new element or isotope.
Nuclear reactors also may be
used for creating elements, although the conditions are less controlled.
In nature, new elements are created by adding protons and neutrons to hydrogen
atoms within the nucleus of a star, producing increasingly heavier elements, up
to iron (atomic number 26).
This process is called
nucleosynthesis. Elements heavier than iron are formed in the stellar explosion
of a supernova.
In a supernova gold may be
transformed into lead, but not the other way around.
While it may never be
commonplace to transmute lead into gold, it is practical to obtain gold from
lead ores.
The minerals galena (lead
sulfide, PbS), cerussite (lead carbonate, PbCO3), and anglesite (lead sulfate, PbSO4)
often contain zinc, gold, silver, and other metals.
Once the ore has been
pulverized, chemical techniques are sufficient to separate the gold from the
lead. The result is almost alchemy.
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
· Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville - Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
· Science educator with experience teaching chemistry, biology,
astronomy, and physics at the high school, college, and graduate levels.
· ThoughtCo and About Education chemistry expert since 2001.
· Widely-published graphic artist, responsible for printable periodic
tables and other illustrations used in science.
Experience
Anne Helmenstine, Ph.D. has covered
chemistry for ThoughtCo and About Education since 2001, and other sciences
since 2013. She taught chemistry, biology, astronomy, and physics at the high
school, college, and graduate levels. She has worked as a research
scientist and also abstracting and indexing diverse scientific literature for
the Department of Energy.
In addition to her work as a science writer, Dr.
Helmenstine currently serves as a scientific consultant, specializing in
problems requiring an interdisciplinary approach. Previously, she worked
as a research scientist and college professor.
Education
Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical
sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a B.A.
in physics and mathematics with a minor in chemistry from Hastings
College. In her doctoral work, Dr. Helmenstine developed ultra-sensitive
chemical detection and medical diagnostic tests.
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
ThoughtCo
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