The alchemists have broken their
teeth by wanting to transform lead in
gold. We thought a moment that it was
a utopia, but today we know that it is
possible. How? The principle can
appears simple but in practice it is
very difficult.

A small science lesson: Any atom has
a core (constituted by protons and by
neutrons) and electrons which orbit
around this core.

What makes that an atom differs from other one (for example the gold atom is different from the lead atom) is simply their number of protons (and therefore of electrons) and to their number of neutrons

When we compare the gold atom with the lead atom we realize that lead core has 3 protons and 8 neutrons more than a gold core. In order to transform lead in gold it is necessary to take away to the lead 3 protons and 8 neutrons.  What is to be done? It is necessary to smash lead atoms against a wall. Detailed process are resumed:

We heat lead atoms at 300°C (fusion temperature of lead) under reduced pressure. We get an electromagnetic field which takes away from them a dozen electrons. Lead atoms are then ionized and with the aid of a powerful electrical field they are speeded up at 100 000 km / s in a cyclotron then cast against a metallic target. Some of the cores which meet the target atoms lose 3 protons and 8 neutrons and are transformed into gold atoms.

Can we make a lot of money? It is all the opposite, the yield reaction that transform lead in gold is so weak that it would be necessary to turn on the cyclotron 24h on 24 during century to acquire 1g of gold. And one hour of use of the apparatus cost 3000$.