The old alchemists probably would have thought it impossible for lead to becoming gold, but that hasn’t stopped clever scientists from trying. Lead and gold are elements, meaning they are made entirely of only single atoms. Each element has a different atomic number. Lead is the second element with an atomic number of 82, while gold is the 78th element.
How to Change Lead into Gold?
Change means transforming something from one state to another; in this case, we want to change lead into gold. To change lead into gold, we need to break apart the atoms that make up the lead and then rearrange those atoms to form the ones that make up gold. Although scientists have yet to break down an atom into its constituent parts, we have a pretty good understanding of what each atom inside lead looks like. Lead’s nucleus contains 82 protons and 126 electrons. In addition, each lead atom has 138 neutrons inside of it. Now, to turn lead into gold, we need to break apart the lead atoms and rearrange the electrons, protons, and neutrons inside of each lead atom so that they look like gold atoms. It may sound like an impossible task, but luckily, scientists have a pretty good idea of what the gold atom looks like too. The gold atom has 79 protons and 79 electrons, as well as 117 neutrons. In other words, the number of protons and electrons inside the gold atom is the same as the sum of the number of protons and electrons inside the lead atom. This means that it would be possible to turn lead into gold if we could rearrange the electrons inside the lead atom to look like gold.
The Limitations of Alchemy: Why Lead and Gold Cannot Be Alchemically Transformed.
Alchemists have long tried to create gold from other elements, but the process has never worked. This is because there is a genuine limitation to alchemy that prevents this transformation from ever happening. We need the energy to break apart the lead atoms and rearrange the electrons inside them. Since electrons are negatively charged, they are attracted to positively charged particles like protons. This, in turn, gives the electrons kinetic energy that can be used to break the lead atom apart. However, alchemists trying to change lead into gold don’t have access to the negatively charged particles needed to break up the lead atoms. The only negatively charged particles that alchemists are familiar with are electrons that are found inside atoms. Given that alchemists are not capable of breaking apart atoms, they cannot change lead into gold.
Mixing Lead with Other Chemicals to Find Out Whether It Can Be Turned Into Gold.
While we can’t break apart atoms in a lab setting, we can still test whether or not lead can be turned into gold. To do this, we can mix a lead sample with other chemicals and observe what happens. While lead is stable on its own, it can react with specific chemicals to form new compounds. This means that if we mix lead with another element to make a new chemical, we can conclude that lead is not gold. In the case of lead, we can mix it with other elements to test whether or not it can be changed into gold. For example, we can combine lead with hydrochloric acid to transform a portion of the lead atoms into lead chloride.
Conclusion
The old alchemists were likely correct when they said that lead could not be changed into gold. This is because lead and gold are stable elements that are very difficult to break down. In addition, the only particles available to break down the lead atoms are the electrons inside of lead atoms, which are also lead atoms. However, scientists have been able to test whether or not lead can be turned into gold through chemical reactions with lead. In the case of lead, we can mix it with other chemicals to form new compounds. It is not gold if the lead can be combined with other chemicals to form new compounds. While we can’t change lead into gold, we can learn a lot about the elements from chemical reactions like this.