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Scientists turn lead into gold for 1st time, but only for a split second (abcnews.go.com)
submitted 7 months ago by RegularJoe@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world
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[-] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 25 points 7 months ago

First time? Specifically for the LHC maybe.

[-] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 months ago

Yeah, haven't we turned lead into gold before? (A few atoms, not the most stable isotope)

How is this a "first"?

[-] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 20 points 7 months ago

This isn't the first time. They've done this before, and it's well documented. It's also irradiated, if memory serves.

[-] gargolito@lemm.ee 19 points 7 months ago

So... Not really?

[-] huquad@lemmy.ml 38 points 7 months ago

Counts as long as they found a buyer in that window

[-] oce@jlai.lu 12 points 7 months ago

And for 1000000 times the cost of normal extraction probably.

[-] Beacon@fedia.io 17 points 7 months ago

The goal isn't to come up with an economical way to produce gold. Read the last 2 paragraphs

[-] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

But consider the last several hundred years of alchemy.

[-] oce@jlai.lu 2 points 7 months ago

I know.

[-] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 14 points 7 months ago

To be fair, we could probably do a lot better if we purpose-built a machine to make gold. And Pb->Au isn't even likely the most ideal path. That was only chosen to fulfill the ancient alchemy dreams.

[-] Kurious84@eviltoast.org 9 points 7 months ago

So what's this guy holding?

[-] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago

An unrelated gold nugget, two years ago, at a completely different location, for some reason.

[-] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 7 months ago

Ohhh! EXCUSE ME! I guess just everyone knows what gold looks like!

/s

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

I've got way more gold than I can use, if you need some? Turns out Walmart doesn't even accept gold bars, so why have them?

[-] tatann@lemm.ee 8 points 7 months ago

Have you never made small pellets of Ferrero Rocher wrapping ?

[-] lazylion_ca@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They have had greay success at turning gold into less gold.

[-] CodingCarpenter@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

For a split second. The creator was also immortal

this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
134 points (93.5% liked)

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