Since element numbers are based on protons, why can’t they just add more to discover element 119, 120, etc?
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Assume that you have a ball of pool balls (like 8-balls), and they’re all stuck together with rubber bands, but they also all have little jets on them that are always firing AND facing away from the center. Now, the tension between the jets and the bands is very precise. Just enough so that the bands don’t break, but not so much that the balls smash unto each other. Now…the further from the center you get, the faster the jets go. Now, try to add one more ball. Maybe you’ll succeed, maybe you won’t, but if you do, the new ball gets all the same properties as all the rest. Eventually, the jets on the balls on the outside overcome the force of the rubber bands pulling them in, and the ball breaks away. That’s radioactivity (beta decay, I think…). You could try smashing a bunch if balls into the mix all at once. That could work. But, sometimes, when one ball breaks free, it takes a bunch of balls with it. That’s Alpha decay. Sometimes, when you do this, not only does one ball escape, but the whole mess gets jacked up so much that it just splits apart. That’s fission. And remember, the larger the group, the more often these things happen. Under about 80 balls, things are pretty stable (maybe fewer), but above that number, things go wonky really quick…
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