Okay, so I understand that the number of protons in an atom defines the element. But why are there only 118 of them? Can’t we keep on adding protons to an atom to create new elements?

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EDIT: Thanks for all the responses!

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Answer 1

Absolutely. But most of those are going to be radioactive with very short half-lives such that they fall apart almost immediately. I remember when I was in highschool that it was theoretically predicted that there might be a stable element at 126 protons, but I don’t know if that’s still considered a thing.