They wanted to transform lowly lead into gleaming gold.

他們想將低等的鉛轉變成閃亮的黃金。

History portrays these people as aged eccentrics, but if only they'd known that their dreams were actually achievable.

歷史將這群人描繪為古怪老人，那是因為他們還不知道這個夢想實際上是可以實現的。

Indeed, today we can manufacture gold on Earth, thanks to modern inventions that those medieval alchemists missed by a few centuries.

沒錯，我們今日能在地球上煉金，而這都多虧了幾世紀前煉金術士錯過的現代發明。

But to understand how this precious metal became embedded in our planet to start with, we have to gaze upwards at the stars.

但要想了解這珍貴的金屬一開始是如何埋入我們的土地中，我們必須抬頭仰望星星。

Gold is extraterrestrial.

黃金來自外太空。

Instead of arising from the planet's rocky crust, it was actually cooked up in space, and is present on Earth because of cataclysmic stellar explosions called supernovae.

它並不是從地球的岩石地殼生成的，而是在大空中誕生，它之所以出現在地球上，歸因於稱為「超新星」的星體劇烈爆炸。

Stars are mostly made up of hydrogen, the simplest and lightest element.

恆星多由氫氣組成，它是最簡單也最輕的元素。

The enormous gravitational pressure of so much material compresses and triggers nuclear fusion in the star's core.

大質量恆星的重力塌陷，在恆星內部集聚而引發核融合。

This process releases energy from the hydrogen, making the star shine.

這個過程會釋放氫元素能量，讓恆星發亮。

Over many millions of years, fusion transforms hydrogen into heavier elements: helium, carbon, and oxygen, burning subsequent elements faster and faster, to reach iron and nickel.

在數百萬年期間，融合反應將氫轉換成更重的元素：氦、碳和氧，逐漸加快燃燒剩餘的元素，直到生成鐵和鎳。

However, at that point, nuclear fusion no longer releases enough energy, and the pressure from the core peters out.

不過，核融合此時已經不再釋放足夠的能量，而核心壓力也逐漸停止。

The outer layers collapse into the center, and bouncing back from this sudden injection of energy, the star explodes, forming a supernova.

恆星外層開始向內塌陷，然後因突然注入的能量而彈回原狀，進而爆炸形成超新星。

The extreme pressure of a collapsing star is so high that subatomic protons and electrons are forced together in the core, forming neutrons.

坍塌中恆星的壓力極大，導致質子與電子被迫在核心合為一體，形成中子。

Neutrons have no repelling electric charge, so they're easily captured by the iron group elements.

中子不帶排斥電荷，所以它們很容易被鐵元素匯集。

Multiple neutron captures enable the formation of heavier elements that a star under normal circumstances can't form, from silver to gold, past lead, and on to uranium.

大量的中子攫取有助更重元素的形成，這是恆星在正常情況下做不到的，由銀到金，轉為過度期的鉛，最後變成鈾。

In extreme contrast to the million-year transformation of hydrogen to helium, the creation of the heaviest elements in a supernova takes place in only seconds.

與氫變氦的百萬年轉變過程大相逕庭，超新星中最重元素的形成，只需要幾秒鐘。

But what becomes of the gold after the explosion?

但爆炸之後，黃金會變成什麼呢？

The expanding supernova shockwave propels its elemental debris through the interstellar medium, triggering a swirling dance of gas and dust that condenses into new stars and planets.

擴大中的超新星震波會使它的元素碎片穿透星際媒介，誘發氣體與塵埃的旋轉舞動，從而濃縮成新的恆星和行星。

Earth's gold was likely delivered this way, before being kneaded into veins by geothermal activity.

在因地熱運動而滲入土裡前，地球上的黃金很可能是這種形式落地的。

Billions of years later, we now extract this precious product by mining it, an expensive process that's compounded by gold's rarity.

數十萬年後的現在，我們得以採礦而獲得這項寶物，由於黃金數量稀少，採金的過程所費不貲。

In fact, all of the gold that we've mined in history could be piled into just 3 Olympic-size swimming pools.

事實上，我們自古至今採過的所有黃金，只能裝滿 3 座奧林匹克游泳池。

Although, this represents a lot of mass, because gold is about 20 times denser than water.

不過，這已經是很大的數量了，因為黃金的密度是水的約 20 倍高。

So, can we produce more of this coveted commodity?

那麼，我們能夠製造更多這樣眾人愛戴的商品嗎？

Actually, yes.

其實可以。

Using particle accelerators, we can mimic the complex nuclear reactions that create gold in stars.

我們可以用粒子加速器模擬恆星創造黃金時的複雜核融合反應。

But these machines can only construct gold atom by atom.

但這些機器只能以單一原子的方式慢慢製造黃金。

So it would take almost the age of the universe to produce 1 gram, at a cost vastly exceeding the current value of gold.

所以需要近乎宇宙壽命等長的時間才能製造 1 公克，成本遠遠超過現在的黃金價值。

So that's not a very good solution.

所以那不是個很好的解答。

But if we were to reach a hypothetical point where we'd mined all of the Earth's buried gold, there are other places we could look.

但假設我們到了採盡地球上所有深埋的黃金，必定還有其他可以開發的地方。

The ocean holds an estimated 20 million tons of dissolved gold, but at extremely minuscule concentrations, making its recovery too costly at present.

海洋含有大約 2 千萬噸溶解的黃金，但由於黃金集聚度極低，目前在海中淘金的代價太高。

Perhaps one day, we'll see gold-rushers to tap the mineral wealth of the other planets of our solar system.

也許有一天，我們會看到淘金客準備前往太陽系其他行星探採這個貴金屬。

And who knows?

誰知道呢？

Maybe some future supernova will occur close enough to shower us with its treasure, and hopefully not eradicate all life on Earth in the process.

也許未來某個超新星會在離我們夠近的地方，讓我們沐浴在它的寶藏之中，同時希望這個過程不會導致地球上所有生命滅絕。