The science of gold: Why humanity values it — Alchemy, atoms, and absolute rarity...
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I’ve always been fascinated by science. STEM, physics, ancient myths, gold lies at the intersection of all of it!!. Recently, to my suprose, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) pulled off what feels like modern-day alchemy: they briefly turned lead into gold... For a sliver of a second, using ultra-peripheral collisions (near-misses of atomic nuclei), lead ions lost three protons and became gold. It decayed almost immediately, but the feat itself—something alchemists only dreamed of—shows just how fundamental gold is to physics, not just finance.
It was scientists from the University of Kansas, working on the ALICE experiment, who developed the technique that tracked "ultra-peripheral" collisions between protons and ions that made gold in the LHC.
ScienceDaily
Why do I(we) care about that, beyond its spectacle? Because gold’s scientific properties (and its scarcity) explain what makes it so special, why it’s held deep value for millennia, and why stackers like me still place it among the highest, and only forms of "true" money.
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Unliie some other metals, gold doesn’t corrode or tarnish. Its electron configuration gives it stability and a lustre that few metals can match. It remains shiny, radiant, a perfect reflection of light, even after centuries. Atom byatom, gold resists oxidation. Chemically inert under most conditions, it doesn’t react with air or water, so it keeps its apearance and purity without needing maintenance. That stabilises its “store of value” role in a way few other metals can.
Then there’s scarcity. On Earth, gold is rare, not the rarest, but certainly scarce enough. Mining it is expensive, difficult, and energy-intensive. New large gold deposits are uncommon; most gold that’s ever been extracted is still in circulation somehow, whether in jewellery, central bank vaults, or collectors’ holdings. This limited supply underpins why gold tends to outperform many other assets over long periods.
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And of course, alchemy; the idea of turning base metals like lead into gold, has captivated imaginations for thousands of years. The medieval alchemists didn’t know about protons, neutrons, or quantum mechanics, but they understoood in myth and metaphor something true: that gold isn’t just another metal. Today’s “alchemy” at the LHC makes the myth literal, if only for a flash. It shows that our deepest scientific tools still recognise gold as fundamentally distinct.
For stackers, all of this isn’t just interesting trivia,it strengthens the case for gold (and silver to some extent)in a stack. While gold might be “more expensive per ounce” than silver, its permanence, rarity, and unique chemistry offer qualities that often justify that premium in the long run. Silver plays a critical role too, especially in industrial applications, and holds value, but gold’s scientific edge lies in its timelessness and ability to retain visual and chemical integrity even under stress. We don’t just value gold because it’s shiny or expensive. We value it because it resists time, resists decay, resists promises and politics. It’s one thing to own something rare; it's another to own something that, atom by atom, refuses to fail. I stack not just for financial returns, but for pieces of certainty a place in the chain of metals that starts in stars and lives in atoms, myth, history, and science.
