3 ms·

Iron (26) -> Lead (82) -> Gold (79) How does that work?

• andrewflnr 4y ago
  Ha, woops. I was just assuming Gold had higher atomic number. But I don't know, maybe a convenient positron emission decay path.
  • Schroedingersat 4y ago
    You smash a proton into it and knock a light atom nucleus off. Works every time about 2% of the time. For the stuff that doesn't end up as gold you can just keep hitting it with neutrons until it's heavy enough to try again.