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When Will We Reach the End of the Periodic Table?
Smithsonian ^ | 19 Jan, 2016 | Devin Powell

Posted on 02/02/2016 4:29:12 PM PST by MtnClimber

Chemistry teachers recently had to update their classroom decor, with the announcement that scientists have confirmed the discovery of four new elements on the periodic table. The as-yet unnamed elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 filled in the remaining gaps at the bottom of the famous chart-a roadmap of matter's building blocks that has successfully guided chemists for nearly a century and a half.

The official confirmation, granted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), was years in the making, as these superheavy elements are highly unstable and tough to create. But scientists had strong reason to believe they existed, in part because the periodic table has been remarkably consistent so far. Efforts to conjure up elements 119 and 120, which would start a new row, are already underway.

But exactly how many more elements are out there remains one of chemistry’s most persistent mysteries, especially as our modern understanding of physics has revealed anomalies even in the established players.

(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: chemistry; element; elements; periodictable; science; stringtheory
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1 posted on 02/02/2016 4:29:12 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 02/02/2016 4:31:35 PM PST by struggle
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To: MtnClimber
Uranium is the heaviest naturally occurring atom. The heavier atoms have to be created artificially and are so unstable they don't last long. The Protons in the nucleus repel each other.
3 posted on 02/02/2016 4:31:40 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

For most of us it is the last day of high school.


4 posted on 02/02/2016 4:32:52 PM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: MtnClimber

Bad place to go for any understanding of any subject - I canceled my subscription due to the total hype of the misleading headlines, the bad writing, lack of images of subject and so on. Mostly a lefty screed for science hype - climate change and the like.


5 posted on 02/02/2016 4:33:13 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: MtnClimber

The laws of infinity demand no answer. We can’t borrow what is not due...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRzmXjk7-1I


6 posted on 02/02/2016 4:33:26 PM PST by soycd
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To: struggle

LOL!


7 posted on 02/02/2016 4:33:28 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: MtnClimber

Like when we reach the end of the internet and go hurling into the sun ...


8 posted on 02/02/2016 4:38:18 PM PST by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: MtnClimber
The heavier atoms have to be created artificially and are so unstable they don't last long.

Not here.

9 posted on 02/02/2016 4:39:50 PM PST by gundog (Help us, Nairobi-Wan Kenobi...you're our only hope.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping


10 posted on 02/02/2016 4:40:51 PM PST by Thunder90 (All posts soley represent my own opinion.)
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To: SkyDancer

11 posted on 02/02/2016 4:41:46 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: MtnClimber

I would suppose that theoretically there would be none.

Practically, however, there has got to be a limit as those heaviest atoms are extremely unstable and there is probably a point where the instability precludes an chance that the atom would hold together at all.


12 posted on 02/02/2016 4:46:30 PM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: soycd

There are no laws of infinity. Infinity is a mathematical concept that does not exist in the time and space that we call the universe.


13 posted on 02/02/2016 4:50:43 PM PST by D Rider
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To: metmom; MtnClimber

I would expect that these heaviest atoms don’t have a problem existing for the long term at the core of a sufficiently massive star.


14 posted on 02/02/2016 4:52:49 PM PST by The KG9 Kid
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To: MtnClimber

Metalpause. There may be hot flashes, though.


15 posted on 02/02/2016 4:53:27 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: D Rider

There is no One Universe.

Infinity does not allow for infinity ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69e-K_8RArQ&list=PLAFb89KDm1Ep_UwbgUI7aqIQ0_WVLveA0&index=17


16 posted on 02/02/2016 4:54:57 PM PST by soycd
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To: D Rider

Our inability to comprehend infinity is not proof it doesn’t exist (is that three negatives ?).


17 posted on 02/02/2016 4:59:37 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Gen.Blather

Post of the day!


18 posted on 02/02/2016 5:00:46 PM PST by antidisestablishment (If Washington was judged with the same standard as Sodom, it would not exist.)
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To: MtnClimber

Just as Pluto is not a planet, these man-made transient atoms are not elements.


19 posted on 02/02/2016 5:00:48 PM PST by Rio (Proud resident of the State of Jefferson)
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To: The KG9 Kid

You can’t fly apart if there is no space to fly apart in .


20 posted on 02/02/2016 5:02:09 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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