⁶The amount of energy required to rearrange particles in the nucleus for even just a single atom is tremendous, lying well outside the energy ranges of chemical reactions. Such energy levels are the exclusive domain of nuclear reactions and high-energy radiation (subatomic particles traveling at high velocity). The extremely large energy “investment” required to alter an atom’s nucleus is why atomic identities are so stable. This is precisely why alchemists of antiquity utterly failed to turn lead into gold: no materials, processes, or techniques they had at their disposal were capable of the targeted energy necessary to dislodge three protons from a nucleus of lead (₈₂Pb) to that it would turn into a nucleus of gold (₇₉Au). That, and the fact the alchemists had no clue about atomic structure to begin with, made their endeavor fruitless.