4 ms·
Disappointed, thought we would be expanding the Periodic Table.
by nvk 15y ago
Disappointed, thought we would be expanding the Periodic Table.
- steventruong 15y agoIt already got expanded a couple times this year.
- guelo 15y agoThe periodic table is pretty much complete at this point, the super-heavy elements after about 112 are very unstable and are probably very rare in nature.
- mikeknoop 15y agoIsland of stability: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability
- Confusion 15y agoThere are however even heavier elements that are hypothesised to be stable. In that sense, the periodic table is not complete. probably very rare in nature. I don't know the scope you had in mind, but this seems to suggest these elements may occur naturally on earth. Just to be on the safe side, I want to point out that they don't. They just don't occur at all on earth, outside of laboratories for near infinitesimal amounts of time. The probability of them occurring naturally in cosmic-scale events is also extremely small. For all practical purposes, probably for at least a thousand year to come, these elements do not exist naturally.
- sliverstorm 15y agoEh, while the periodic table is not complete, Element UUUU will not be nearly as exciting as new properties for existing compounds.
- guelo 15y agoAny condition you can create in a lab probably exists somewhere in the universe. There's probably a planet of molten Californium somewhere out there being bombarded by Einsteinium asteroids.
- Confusion 15y agoThat's only true under the assumption of an infinite universe, in which even an event of the smallest probability will take place. Let's stick to the observable universe: it won't happen there.