Some of the high number elements only last for seconds or less, why do they get a spot on the table if they would never be found naturally?
In: Chemistry
Elements of the periodic table don’t purely represent elements found naturally. Initially, it was thought we’d find all the elements and we’d have a complete set, but what we’ve found is that many elements either because they’re radioactive and instable or because they react readily with common elements in our atmosphere, that they don’t exist outside a lab.
However, because elements are defined based on the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, with effort and energy, we can create elements which can be found no where, and see what properties they have.
It is interesting because since the periodic table was established, we’ve added many elements not found in nature, and it is heavily implied that if we had the means, the periodic table could grow indefinitely with increasingly instable elements.
There’s also a theory that perhaps there is an island of stability that we have not yet reached, where the trend will not necessarily be increasingly instable but actually become stable elements. The fact that they would be stable and not immediately be undone means essentially finding elements not found in nature that we could actually use in very practical ways.
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