• Question: How do you make a new element?

    Asked by obiwankenobi to Aled, Ellie, Fiona, Kev, Willem on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hi Obiwan!

      To make a new element, you take two old ones, smash them together, and hope they stick! (No, really, this is how it works! It’s just really hard because, more often, you just shatter the two old ones, leaving you only loose bits of atom, and some radiation!)

      The problems are in the execution. You need to pick the right elements, and they need to go tremendously fast, which means it’s very hard to aim them at each other. And the resulting new element is very unstable, which means it falls apart again in a fraction of a second.

      Also, the new element won’t really be a surprise: we know which number it’ll be, and that determines most of its physical properties.

      Just to be sure, don’t try this at home! Smashing two things together mostly just gives shattered bits, not a new thing! 😉

Comments