Can protons be added to an atom to create heavier elements like gold, or are they only created in supernovae?
In: Planetary Science
Sure. It can be done, although it’s usually easier to combine two nuclei than to add protons/neutrons individually to a nucleus.
That’s how we create new elements to discover.
Some elements are *considerably* easier to make than others, so breeding elements in a nuclear reactor is limited to only specific elements/isotopes, but we can even produce some like plutonium in large amounts.
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