The majority of the periodic table contains elements found naturally on Earth – up to around atomic number 92. Heavier elements are created in one of a few very special labs, scientists fire 1 type of atom in a particle accelerator into a target made from another type of atom millions and millions of times, these atoms need to be chosen very carefully so that there’s a small chance that these two atoms will fuse together and form a new element. The problem is that this newly created element decays or breaks apart into smaller elements very very quickly! (1 second to a millisecond). We currently don’t have a way to stabilize these super heavy elements, and it takes a really really long time to make a small amount of them. The lab that creates this new element can suggest a name for it!
Here’s a great video from one of my favourite youtube channels on making new elements!
Comments