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The Independent ·Small delights

Scientists Mimicking the Big Bang Accidentally Turn Lead Into Gold

by Ulrik Egede

Published 2026-10-10 13:46:47+00:00

How did the oldest dream in alchemy become a nuisance for modern physicists?

0:00 / 5:09 · Narrator Rasalgethi

Context

Published on 10 October 2026, a report in The Independent captures a moment of accidental alchemy at the Large Hadron Collider. Physicists smashing lead atoms together to study the Big Bang ended up knocking loose just enough protons to create tiny amounts of gold. The surprise of the experiment quickly gives way to the sheer, violent scale of the physics required to pull it off. Stripping three protons from a lead atom takes an electric field a million times stronger than a lightning bolt.

Show notes

An explanation of how physicists at the Large Hadron Collider accidentally turned lead into gold while trying to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang. The transformation happens when near-miss collisions between lead nuclei traveling near the speed of light generate electric fields strong enough to strip away exactly three protons. Details how scientists detect these trace amounts of gold, and why the new atoms actually degrade their particle beams.

Read on The Independent →