Is it possible to change one element into another?

We can't change one element to another element by CHEMICAL means because, that involves electrons, not the protons in the nucleus that give the identity of the element. However, one element can be changed into another via NUCLEAR means, such as radioactive decay, & fusion and fission of atomic nuclei.

**Alchemy is referring to changing an element into another element (different "type" of atom) via CHEMICAL means, which is not possible.

***An example of an element changing into another via addition of protons:

An isotope of Platinum has a mass number (A) of 197 (and like all isotopes of an element, the same number of protons/Z, which is 78). This particular isotope is unstable because, it's "neutron-rich" (it has more neutrons than isotopes of platinum that are lighter/more stable). Neutron rich isotopes indicates the isotope will undergo "Beta-negative (negatron) decay", which involves a neutron converting into a proton that REMAINS in the nucleus, while a non-orbital/free electron (called a "Beta-negative particle or negatron) is emitted. Since the number of protons has increased (specifically by "one" in this case) during this decay process, and since the number of protons is distinct for each element, the daughter element is not platinum anymore but instead it's gold (which has an atomic number of 79).

@pisgahchemist

Maybe if you read before the parenthesis, you would see that I've already stated what a "Beta-negative particle" is, which is a non-orbital/free electron.

As for the credibility of the word "negatron" anyways,

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/negatron

And it's in my chemistry textbook.

**@pisgahchemist

Fixed

***pisgahchemist's statements are accurate as well, except the part where he initially said there's no such thing as the term "negatron".

The short answer is "no." There is no chemical process which causes transmutation, particularly the formation of gold from other elements. Transmutation is a nuclear process that requires a lot more toys and a lot more $$$. Particle accelerators are multi-million dollar devices that cause the transmutation of one kind of element into a heavier one, or break apart an element into a group of lighter ones.

The first synthetic transmutation reaction was done by Ernest Rutherford and James Chadwick in 1917-1918, which resulted in confirmation of the existence of the proton, a subatomic particle. The process involved bombarding nitrogen gas with alpha particles. They observed the formation of oxygen gas and hydrogen gas. The hydrogen represented the simplest nuclear particle, the proton.

7N14 + 2He4 --> 8O17 + 1H1

Just a heads up, nuclear decay (alpha and beta radiation, for example) are not events that an experimenter has any control over. The radioactive decay of a nucleus is strictly a random event that cannot be influenced by any external means.

================= Follow up ==================

This is where this statement is problematic, "However, we CAN change one element into another via NUCLEAR means, such as radioactive decay, & fusion and fission of atomic nuclei." As pointed out, radioactive decay is a spontaneous, random event, and CANNOT be influenced by any outside means. There is nothing you can do to make an element suddenly initiate alpha or beta decay.

"Negatron." LOL. You gotta be kidding me. With all due respect, there is not a particle called a "negatron". A beta particle is identical to an electron and is produced during "beta decay" where a neutron is converted to the more stable proton, and an electron (the beta particle) and an antineutrino are emitted. Perhaps "negatron" is being compared to the positron. A positron is an anti-electron. A positron is antimatter and is identical to an electron in every way except the charge. As you might expect, a positron has a positive charge, rather than a negative charge.

The rest of what ?man had to say in the "negatron" paragraph is reasonably accurate. And I can see why someone might be pulling your leg and use "negatron" as the opposite of positron, but nobody in the field actually uses that term.

You are not able to break factors in a lab. For those who had a particle accelerator you could fire neutrons at an aspect and hope that this could make the nucleus unstable, it would then undergo fission and cut up into two other factors. Some radioactive factors provide out alpha or beta particles, when these are given out it alterations the elements quantity of protons and changes it into another element. In the event you heated up the ore adequate the bonds in it will come apart as electrons get adequate vigor to escape.

The number of protons determines the element.

So the short answer is yes.

It takes a particle accelerator which would accelerate a nucleus to a high enough speed that it could collide with another nucleus and have them stick together long enough to be detected.

The heaviest official element (livermorium #116) was created by bombarding a curium (#96) nucleus with a calcium (#20) nucleus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livermorium

So theoretically you could slam a boron (#5) atom into a tungsten (#74) atom to make a gold (#79) atom. The only down side is time. If you could make 100 atoms of gold per second, at the end of a year you would have made

100atoms/s x [60s/min] x [60min/hr] x [24hr/day] x 365days/year = 3 billion atoms/year.

or about 1x10^-12g, just a trillionth of a gram.

It's much easier and cheaper to dig gold out of the ground.

Fission and fusion both essentially change one or two elements into different byproduct elements. Only a few currently known elements readily lend themselves to the process, and none have gold as a byproduct...

Yes, but ONLY by radioactive decay. There are 3 kinds - alpha decay, beta decay and gamma decay.

If you're talking about the alchemists dream of old, of turning stuff like lead into gold, NO.

That's a myth.

Yes, but it is not in a controllable way. If it is, the world is going to change into a totally different way. All the wastes can be changed into any other necessary items.

that's alchemy whose goal was transmutation, it so far has only been done with radioactive elements