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Question: is there any reason to believe the number of elements is not infinite?
by wfunction 10y ago
Question: is there any reason to believe the number of elements is not infinite?
- mseri 10y agoAFAIK it is not known how big it could be. However, if you accept the current atomic models, there are serious issues preventing atoms with number higher than 135 (or thereabout), things like the electrons needing to move faster than light to stay around the atom. I think I had read something about a model accepting over 200 elements, but I don't remember the details and could not find the draft it in my library. Update: there is a decent explanation with some reference in the periodic table wikipedia entry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table#Element_with_the_highest_possible_atomic_number https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table#Element_with_...