Are there Undiscovered Elements Beyond The Periodic Table?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ย. 2022
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Adamantium, bolognium, dilithium. Element Zero, Kryptonite. Mythril, Netherite, Orichalcum, Unobtanium. We love the idea of fictional elements with miraculous properties that science has yet to discover. But is it really possible that new elements exist beyond the periodic table?
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The element nobody will be expecting: the element of surprise!
Nice dad joke
Inquisitorium.
It has one proton: proton a, and proton b. Two! Two protons! Proton a, and proton b. And that one it has THREE! THREE PROTONS
Calm down there Lu-Tze
"20 years ago", I sent an Email to webelements about chemical island and element 118.. so, I asked about how it would go after that?! ... even today we cannot do that... not saying that we can't, but I am sure that is really hard because "islands of stability" math/chemistry issue! ...20 years ago.. :) Of course, I would be happy to be wrong..
It's only Surprise when it's from the Inquisition region of Spain, everywhere else it's just sparkling excitement.
5th grade in mid 70’s we were required to memorize the periodic table and were told “THIS is everything that everything in made of..” I asked how that was possible and couldn’t there be more we haven’t found yet. Teacher berated me for “questioning” the scientists knowledge and told the class “they are much smarter than all of you..” Always wanted to go back and find that teacher after more and more elements have been added over the years.
flipnotrab,
Not every teacher Should be a teacher . . . - - - . . .
yikes, that is the opposite of what a teacher should do especially a science teacher
Wow, that was a scarily bad teacher.
They could have used your question to engage the class and go a little deeper. Throw the question back at everybody and see if anyone had a good idea. One of the obvious lessons would be that elements as we know them (made out of protons, neutrons and electrons*) are complete in the sense that there is no longer any gaps in the table, just room for even heavier elements. The next lesson could then be to get the class to realize that all the heaviest elements are unstable and that the half-lives are rather getting shorter, and potentially hint at how the heaviest elements are synthesized.
They could have hinted at the possibility of hypothetical stable elements (or at least those whose half-lives are long enough to be around for a reasonably long time) even though synthesis is currently out of our reach.
Even saying all of this in a two or three sentences would have been more productive than shutting you down with an argument from authority.
* there are actually atom-like formations -so-called exotic atoms- where any of these is replaced by another particle but this might have been a little too-much off-topic
cf. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_atom
Right. Some stuff is obvious af also. Just maybe at the time with the limited technology, they can't PROVE or unprove anything.
They weren't exactly wrong tho. Everything that occurs abundantly in nature has been known for a good amount of time. They definitely shouldn't be a teacher with that attitude tho.
I’m always amazed at how early scientist discovered… stuff. Take Mendelev, arranging the known elements to their known atomic weight… the dude was born in 1834!
Yknow tha just becuase they didn't have iPhone didn't mean that everyone back then was a knuckledragging Neanderthal right?
In 9th grade in my chemistry class i did this pretty cool exercise in thought where we looked at the fictional material vibranium from marvel and tried to figure out where it would go on the periodic table based on its properties. Fun stuff
The sheer fact that we don't fully know yet what is required to make an atom stable means that there are most likely big surprises ahead of us.
I have always been excited by this 2nd island of stability. Just imagine everything we have ever done is through what we have found in nature but maybe in the long long future if we could start building these elements what wonderful properties could we expect. Like we use iron and then steel then carbon nanotubes but instead, we start with something stronger than iron and then alloy it further.
Imagine how francium and astatine would look like
I read a paper a while back about the possiblity of a 'continent of stability'. Basically an Island of stability but could hold an entire periodic table's worth of new elements, made possible by strange quarks or something
Ohhhh I’m very interested in that
ud-quark matter is one possible example of this, but without the strange quarks. the protons and neutrons dissolve entirely into a stable quark blob. Apparently if it exists it would allow incredibly dynamic matter properties that you could custom design, as well as extremely efficient and small fusion reactions.
Yea
I've heard about the island of stability but haven't read anything on it, would you be able to link to the paper you read?
Wikipedia has a page on "Continent of stability"
I feel like one of the most important means to advance technology nowadays is to find ways to explain complex things in a simple to understand way, so that more people gain an interest in scientific topics.
And you're doing an amazing job with it!
I would expect the next row of the periodic table to be even longer than the current ones. Every two rows, we see the addition of a new electron orbital (the rare earths actually fit in the table, but are dropped below it for display purposes). And with the next row, we're due for a fifth electron orbital type with 18 electrons.
quantity of electrons don't define what a atom is
@@Feyser1970 No, but they do determine how the element reacts. And electrons = protons in (non-ionic) atoms. The S orbital holds 2 electrons. That's Hydrogen & Helium, then the first two columns of the periodic table. Then the P orbital is next; it holds 6 electrons, which are the last 6 columns (Boron through Neon in the first row). Two rows later, we add the D orbital, which holds 10 electrons. That's the middle of the periodic table. Finally (for now), we add the F orbital two rows later which has 14 electrons. That's the rare earths. With the upcoming row, we're due for a fifth orbital with 18 electrons if the pattern continues
@@Feyser1970Valence electrons (electrons in the outermost orbital) pretty much define how an atom bonds with other atoms
I had a nightmare once that we synthesized element 125 and it instantly destroyed the universe
cat's cradle.
if it destroyed it instantly, how did you notice it?
@@eljanrimsa5843 it was a dream don't think too hard
All at once or was a sphere of annihilation that expanded at the speed of light?
@@clover7359 it was a while ago now but I wrote in the journal it was similar to the church explosion in GOT. super entertaining dream in hindsight but I woke up shaking lol
I'm old enough that I remember seeing the periodic table in chemistry class with elements 104 and up not even having proper names, just placeholder numeric names.
Dude, how old are you?
I recall there were 103 elements on the Periodic Table when I was in high school.
That sounds amazing. You must be super old!
@@rasin9391 maybe you should reword how you say your compliments...
@@damiannguyen9868 🤣🤣🤣
8:02 i've never heard anyone explained it at all, and you did that so good. I only found myself hearing about such things separately, in different context. If i was reading it in the book it, i could'nt fathom it. Thank you, that was interesting
H. Beam Piper's story "Omnilingual" deals with a long dead martian culture, and the characters in the story were stymied by being unable to translate the language.
BUT at the end of the story they discover a Martian university and find the table of elements written on a wall, which gives them a means of translating the language: As in Hydrogen is composed of a single proton and electron everywhere in the universe.
I'm in the process of writing out a story which carries this on further.
I would strongly recommend "The man who tried to fake an element" video by BobbyBroccoli. It goes into a lot of detail about history of new element synthesis and basic physics.
seen the title, came here to say this exact same thing! that video has helped me understand so much more than i did before watching
As someone who already knew about the chemistry in the before, I still recommend the video. Was really interesting, as much as it might just look like an educational video by reading comments above
Excellent recommendation! I’ll second it
Man, his representation of elements as islands and mountains is simply genius
I was also just about to mention it. That video is a masterpiece.
I think I read somewhere that the island of stability is a moving frontier. A few years back, it was expected that elements above 115 or 116 would be found to be a bit more stable than the ones before, as they would be the "shore" of the island. Now that we are up to 118 with each new element being less and less stable, the island is predicted to be further away...
Yes. There's a few issues at play. One is that our knowledge is imperfect, there are several theories on where the island (Or in some places 'continent') will be, a few of which are now disproven. Our creation of heavy elements often informs us of more distant possibilities. (Or lack thereof.)
There's also the issue that we have only created certain isotopes of these elements. For example, Og-294 is the only isotope of oganesson to be successfully synthesized, but Og-297 is predicted to have a longer half-life.
@@davidguthary8147 I hope we have a stable 115. I love bismuth crystals and can't wait to make one out of 115.
It’s not predicted further without reason. As he said, there are computer models that shows the increasing stability as these nucleon numbers increase. It’s likely there’s another “island” after this one, and it’s probably even further.
@@garethdean6382 I mean... It being a continent is very unlikely. It would likely contain 4-5 elements at best, and even then they would decay into lead in a few hundred years (which is short for an element in case people reading this think it's long)
I like the idea of us humans being cosmic horrors.
We will be. We just don't have the range yet
@@Reythscipe thats strangely calming
@@paininthebox1291 Having tentacles, claws, bat-wings and a beak would be interesting.
@@sotros1 or multiple arms so you can do the whole 2 arms trick and then smoothly unfold the rest
@@sotros1 or multiple arms so you can do the whole 2 arms trick and then smoothly unfold the rest
I've always dreamt about a fictional,, futuristic process in which we are able to stabilise all the radioactive elements and use them at their full potential. Like, imagine what would those elements be used for if they weren't unstable.
I remember sitting in the chemistry classroom, looking at the sun-bleached periodic table above the blackboard. It "ended" probably around Seaborgium, having the "Unununium" names. I remember reading about the Island of Stability some time later, and that made me... believe, I guess, that those new sorta-stable elements are going to be the most amazing thing ever.
I hope I will live to hear about them :)
I remember my Chem teacher in High School had a funky Periodic Table that was a circle and he told us about the "island of stability".
I think the "Island of Stability" is one of those things that's always 30 years off, or maybe 6-7 protons away...
Will be worthless. Better read how physicists managed to create universe in the lab right now.
Potential completion of the Periodic Table of the Elements:
I currently believe that there are 120 chemical elements in this universe. If a person were to look at how electrons fill up the shells in atoms: 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 8 (seven shells), and realizing that energy could freely flow in this universe if nothing stopped it from doing so, then a natural bell shaped curve might occur. An eighth energy shell might exist with a maximum of two elements in it, chemical element #119 (8s1) and chemical element #120 (8s2).
Chemical Element #119 (8s1):
#119 I put at the bottom of the Hydrogen group on the Periodic Table of the Elements. It only has one electron in it's outer shell with room for only one more electron. Energy might even enter the atom through the missing electron spot and then at least some of the energy might get trapped inside of the atom under the atom's outer shell.
Chemical Element #120 (8s2):
#120 I put at the bottom of the Helium group since it's outer shell is full of electrons. It might have some of the properties of group two, Beryllium group (Alkali Earth Metals group) since it has two electrons in it's outer shell; as well as some of the properties of the Helium group (Noble Gases group) since it's outer shell is full of electrons; and if you look at the step down deflection of the semi-metals and where #120 would be located on the chart, it's possible #120 might even have some semi-metal characteristics. #120 would be the heaviest element in this universe. I believe chemical element #120 could possibly be found inside the center of stars.
When a neutron split inside of this atom, it would give off one proton, one electron, neutrinos and energy. The proton and electron would be ejected outside of the atom since all their respective areas are full. One proton and one electron are basic hydrogen, of which the Sun is primarily made up of, and the Sun certainly gives off neutrinos and energy. And note, it's the neutron that split, not a proton. So even after the split, there are still 120 protons inside of the atom and the atom still exists as element #120. The star would last longer that way.
In addition, if the neutron that split triggered a chain reaction inside of the star, this could possibly be how stars nova, (even if only periodically).
If stars were looked at as if this theoretical idea were true, and found to even be somewhat true, then we might just have a better model of the universe to work with, even if it's not totally 100% true. And if it's all 100% true, then all the better.
We have yet to exhaust all options for finding the island of stability. Sure, physicists have been making making innovative use of particle accelerators. But no one is looking for a message in a bottle.
Technetium has always seemed like a clue that we should not stop synthesizing new elements. If there’s a radioactive element smack dab in the middle of the periodic table, could there be a stable element in the middle of radioactive ones?
Unfortunately the answer is no. The recent hypothesis that heavy elements are made in neutron star collisions makes it clear that all possible superheavy elements would be created. If there were any stable ones we'd have found them in nature. Another possibility is forms of matter made of non-standard quarks, I don't believe that is ruled out.
Anything stars can make would be evenly spread out like iron and nickel. This is why the star trek "This planet has this magic element." makes no scientific sense.
So...the star exploded and aimed it at this one rock? Thanks Mr Star!
@@icecold9511 not necessarily, the concentration of elements on each planet in the solar system do vary widely. Standard stuff like iron and silicon seems to be pretty much everywhere though.
@@PalladianPD
A star system would likely clump the elements based on gravity. But the elements would be scattered by an exploding star pretty evenly. Gravity from other stars might affect the spread some, same as inner planets and gas giants.
But as has been said, the superheavy stuff, if stable, would show up. Maybe not in significant quantities, but then gold is very rare too. We find that stuff.
@@PalladianPD At what concentration could we still detect a new element? What if that stable trans-uranium element has only a concentration below that, say 1 part in a mol?
Understanding this is one thing but knowing it so well you can contribute to the knowledge seems supernatural to me. I will never know what it’s like to have a mind like that
I really wish for an additional video continuing the story of the island. One of the most interesting topics yet to be demystified.
No matter what's going on, Spacetime always raises my spirits. It's a showcase of the best humans making the species better.
Amungus 🥶
@@DeSlagen8 Not you.
Sudo forget everything n reset
@@DeSlagen8 boo [__]
Wait, better in terms of what?
His T-shirt is literally the periodic table of minecraft💀
Is it literally 😑
They use music from the Mass Effect series all the time too, just thought I'd add that 😊
Luckily its not figuratively the periodic table of minecraft
Based Individual
I can't believe you literally said that
I love how the Video is about undiscovered elements
And at least two of the examples at the beginning (adamantium and netherite) can be argued to not be elemental to begin with. One is stated to be an alloy and the other is at least crafted by using gold
May i just say, i never heard this story assuming that anything below lead could be found in some quantities somewhere. Learn something new everyday. Thankyou so much for your channel.
Originally we were supposed to get an island of stability around element 114, but they just keep getting more unstable as we make heavier elements. The heavier elements seem to be caught in a squeeze in which those that do not have a high enough neutron to proton ratio alpha decay very rapidly, whereas those that have a higher neutron to proton ratio spontaneously fission (you see this first with fermium, of which isotope 257 is the most stable isotope, alpha decaying with a half-life of 100.5 days, and then isotope 258 spontaneously fissions in less than a millisecond (and note that the even-even rule of stability doesn't work here and for some other transuranium elements), and isotopes 259 and 260 also spontaneously fission very quickly. After fermium, you get a slight break with mendelevium, for which you can get the highest few isotopes to have enough neutrons that they can actually beta decay, but then starting with nobelium anything that doesn't alpha decay spontaneously fissions, and it gets faster until by the time you get to the upper end of what we have been able to make, you can't do anything with what you have made other than confirm detection.
Current technology (ramming calcium 48 into a heavy element) should in principle get us to Element 121 -- in principle, it should be possible to make macroscopic quantities of einsteinium (actually, we already did that at least once, with einsteinium 253, half life 20.47 days, and that isn't even the most stable isotope), Fermium 257 (half-life 100.5 days), and mendelevium 260 (half life 27.8 days); adding 20 protons gets you Elements 119, 120, and 121, respectively. After that, you would have to use a heavier projectile (they're already trying titanium 50, with no success so far), but then you won't be able to get as high a neutron to proton ratio, so alpha decay instability will be even worse, and then you really won't be able to detect what you have made, let alone do anything with it.
Thanyou for your comment. The fact that we make plutonium is a technical marvel.
Does gravity play a role in why heavier elements are unstable? Love your comment, you sound like a scientist.
@@botezsimp5808 I am, although physics (including nuclear physics) isn't my specialty (but I do know how to look stuff up and read it). As far as is known, gravity plays no role (*)in the instability of heavier elements, but electromagnetism does: Protons repel each other because they are all positively charged, and their repulsion declines only with the square of the distance, because electromagnetism has no range limit; whereas protons and neutrons attract each other by way of the strong nuclear force, which starts out stronger but falls off faster than the square of the distance, so that as a nucleus gets bigger, the electromagnetic repulsion starts to catch up. Well before getting to the point at which the nucleus would simply fly apart, you get a situation in which the nucleus can become more strongly bound by rearranging itself into 2 (or sometimes more) smaller nuclei; in the case of rearranging into 2 moderate-sized nuclei, enough energy is left over from this to kick out a few neutrons (hence the possibility of fission chain reactions).
(*)If it turns out that gravity and the other forces (including electromagnetism) unify, then gravity would play a role; however, at this point, it is not proven whether gravity is a real force in the sense of the other forces or simply the result of the mathematics of spacetime curvature caused by concentrated accumulations of mass/energy. Many scientists think that gravity is an actual force (as well as curving spacetime) that does unify with the other forces at extremely high energies, but have no way to test the hypothesis with current or foreseeable technology.
@@Lucius_Chiaraviglio Interesting.. My intuition says gravity and electromagnetism are related somehow.. gravity is related to size.. you make me want to study more.
@@botezsimp5808 Funny that you want to try to unify gravity with electromagnetism. This was actually what Einstein was doing in the lead-up to his death.
It regularly amazes me that we, as humans, know anything about stuff on this scale let alone these details (which, despite the great detail in this video only scratch the surface). The dedication of really intelligent people coming up with theoretical models, designing tests, and then building on that is so incredible. When we want to be we are an amazing species that explore the world around us, the world unseen, and the universe at an unimaginable scale. Thanks for providing a path to explore this world!
'when we want to be' but the issue has never been lack of want. almost all humans are born to explore by the drive of curiosity.
the problem is that people can gain massive power through unquestioning followers, and once in power, they actively prevent questioning ie: monarchies, dictatorships, religions, consevatives
And when we "want to be" we are also hopelessly selfish, greedy, immoral, amoral, depraved shits who are wantonly destroying the planet that sustains us in our never ending lust for more, more, more...
... sorry, my sincere apologies for treading on your comment... but it had to be said.
@@Matty002 Like the guy above you
It is also usually interesting to think that each step on the way can feel quite minor or even worthless to the person who originally discovered that tidbit of information. Doubt Curie would have ever imagined her discoveries being used to navigate with an planetary constellation of devices.
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ 🤣
One use for elements in the island is that they'd logically make extraordinarily good shielding due to their extreme density, which would be fantastic for nuclear science, fission and fusion power generation, and space travel.
Extreme density rarely is good for space travel(weight)
Getting it into space yes, but if constructed in space the weight shouldn't matter should it?
@HasekuraIsuna You still have to accelerate and decelerate it in space, so it still matters a lot
If you have 10kg of steel, and 10kg of super dense futuristic metal, the latter will shield better for the same weight.
@triplecastsleep1924 and take less space which is also very important, good point!
I am thoroughly enjoying your discussions. The way you explain, very unique. Very simple to comprehend.
Thanks homie
Hey Matt,
Thank you for being the host of PBS Space Time. I've been watching for quite some time now and I feel like I get smarter every time!
It feels weird to have been watching for a while because it makes me feel kind of at home with you as a host, which is a parasocial thing, but then again, all that we consider a relationship is just a representation of an image in our minds.
A thank you to you and the PBS Space Time team for keeping this channel running!
It's a really great source of information and, in that, it's a really nice contrast from the news or media, which is oftentimes coloured by emotions and superficial reasons.
PBS Space Time is only coloured by the emotion of wonder and is otherwise coloured by science, which is a very stable and comforting way to think about the world.
Thank you.
I’m not the host
Jeez, you scared me; thought Matt was retiring from his S tier hosting. S being for Spacetime of course 😊
I imagine there are a finite number of atoms possible, with the limiting factor being exactly how many protons there are in the entirety of reality. So... yes, there's more than 118 or so.
a singular atom with so big of a nucleus that its visible to the naked eye XD
@@BassRemedy neutron stars
The only thing that throws a wrench into that is that atoms can be in multiple places at once.
Imagine sticking enough of them together so you get an atom the size of a planet 🤤
The extended periodic table is pretty interesting. The largest theoretical element on it has the atomic no. 168 "Unhexoctium"
Great video! This is a topic that is extensively discussed in modern chemistry, and it's great to see your theories.
I remember the island of stability being one of the first ideas that got me so into physics. Yes, It's a physics problem that just has applications in chemistry. Ironically, it was in a chemus5ry class where I got a periodic table and wondered, why does it stop?
True story: Way back in 1951/52 I spent 1st and 2nd grade in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania, near Shanksville where Flight 93 went down during 9/11. About 30 kids in 8 grades, one teacher, no running water and outhouses in the back. We kids used to fill a bucket of water from a hand pump and dump it into a big crock at the back of the class.
It was a fantastic experience for an inquisitive and curious kid like me. I was able to listen to and learn from the lessons given to the other classes above me. I absorbed huge amounts far beyond my 6 and 7 year old self. But I never could figure out what was going on when long division was being taught.
So...we were poor, so poor that the Periodic Table on our wall had only the Alkali Metals and the Lanthanide series.
It's true. Trust me.
I trust you
would've been a great time to grow up for a lover of science i imagine.
ty chatgpt
Those super heavy elements are abundant in deep space of the universe where the very first element synthesizing process began. The initial creation
I have a feeling the next breakthrough as far as new elements are concerned is going to have less to do with an island of stability among heavier elements and more to do with insight into the working of quarks and the creation of new subatomic particles. Who knows what strange elements we may find some day.
What is most satisfying in this video is that it has millons of view. It makes me think that millions of people are interested in science. So it gives the hope that the humanity is not yet doomed to extinction. Make science, not war.
Some people just watch to get the feeling of being smart and don't even comprehend what is being talked about.
I may have failed chemistry in high school but now I'm fascinated by this stuff!
same
i had the same science teacher 3 years in a row during my high school💯flunked his class every year but still his was always my favorite class🤣🤣🤣
Don't listen to these guys. Elements above 112 are not yet discovered, it was proven to be FAKED! The same guy tried faking a discovery for 110-112 at Berkly when they actually found it, his mathematics and proof of fraud is in the papers for the discovery of 112, it wasn't scrutinized heavily because the other scientists actually found 112 at the same time.
I'm really sad to see PBS continuing the fake periodic table.
Thank you for this.
Working on worldbuilding new elements. Plan is, a new subatomic particle, one that has its own stages of matter in its own right, but can combine in the nucleus of an atom to make it more stable and more able to store/conduct "energy".
This Gentleman is explaining very well. When explaining complicated physics he may discover new ideas or rejecting old theory that can't be true.
I really enjoyed this episode and the talk about elements! Please do more deep dives on these topics! It's refreshing!
You should check out a youtube documentary by BobbyBroccoli called "the man who tried to fake an element", it's a great comprehensive history of nuclear physics regarding how we created new elements over the past 100 years :)
There's a channel called "Periodic Videos" in case you haven't heard of it, excellent channel!
More nuclear and quantum chemistry would be great.
5:08 yesss that half life reference :D
Wow! Never heard of protons and neutrons having their own “shells” like electrons! Really neat.
SO INTERESTING! Thanks PBS Spacetime! ❤
Hopefully you can do an episode on the continent of stability and the hypothetical UDQM form of matter that those elements are thought to be comprised of. It's even more speculative and much harder to reach than the already speculative and hard-to-reach island of stability, but there may be far more potential for useful and even stable elements there.
Somebody did their homework :) Congrats :D
I want this too
Don't forget exotic elements such as positronium and muonium that have already been discovered.
Przybylski's Star has an abundance of Actinides in it's spectra. Like, plutonium, americium, & einsteinium seem to be in it. These should not be present if that star is of any reasonable age. So, either they are from decay of super heavy elements inside that star, or, the light spectrum of this star is being misunderstood.
the entire theory of dark matter is a con designed to disguise the failure of astrophysical observation methods, so I think you can guess.
From my understanding stars can't fuse anything heavier than iron, they go supernova once iron begins to be produced in the core, since anything as heavy or heavier than iron takes more energy to fuse than it produces. Maybe the spectra emissions come from ionized material being absorbed into the star from surrounding space? Perhaps it's passing through the remnants of a neutron star collision? That is really interesting regardless.
Are you making a joke? Eistienium, americum?
@@jess500texas Those are real elements.
Such elements can't be formed in typical stars, but if Przybylski's Star contains a neutron star, that could easily be possible
Thank you for making this!
thanks!. this really challanged my current thoughts on the universe. made me have some good ol existential crisis!
9:22
Helium-4
Oxygen-16
Calcium-40
Nickel-56
Tin-100
Lead-164
Flerovium-240
True
I saw a video a few weeks ago by BobbyBroccoli called "The man who tried to fake an element". its about the history of man made elements and the race to be the first to actually make them. If you want to know more about how these elements are made and the surrounding drama, its a great video.
first time i had seen that stability chart, and i was kind of upset i'd never seen it before! it holds a lot of insight!
I watched that whole video too
"That whole video"? Ah, I see, it's an hour and 20 minutes long. OK, good one for the "Watch later" list. Thanks for the suggestion.
Seconded. Fantastic documentary (as all of his latest vids have been).
@@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc and it's a trilogy
this episode was massively elemental in understanding chemistry. i actually get all this stuff now. thanks dude. belly rubs.
0:06 are yall armor or tools with your first piece
“And there are many, many others but they haven’t been discovered.” -The Elements Song.
Wow. Another awesome episode. This kind of channel makes me really appreciate the value of the internet.
Seriously, I wish I'd had this kind of information and divulgation when I was in high school, 30+ years ago. Only now I begin to grasp what all this craziness was really about (and yes, I passed all my grades with really good scores).
But, in reality, I didn't know anything. It's only starting, just starting, to make sense now.
30+ years later.
I wasn't at all anything nearly close to how smart I thought I was based on my scores.
No kidding, I missed having access to this kind of free educational content by like ~10 years. I was lucky enough to get the Discovery channel when it was actually educational, then there was like a ~5-10 year gap where Discovery had turned into reality TV slop without good free alternatives (like this) online.
Who knows how this might've shaped my education & career paths! I enjoyed reading about these topics but I feel like I would've devoured these videos in high school
I'm going to rewatch the video on acid XD Amazing Video!!! I can't imagine how much you have had to lern to make such a good video!
"Is it possible things exist beyond the scope of my understanding?" Answer YES
3:53 there is actually some technetium in a uranium mine in Africa but it is produced by radioactive decay, similar to how they first discovered it.
There was also a uranium mine that once sustained nuclear fission like a standard light-water modulated reactor
This channel is so freaking good - my only regret is finding it so early ... oh, the jealousy of the other-me who only just found it and gets to binge it for the first time.
Search YT for "PBS infinite series" for another mind blowing experience. 🙂
@@WackyAmoebatrons I agree - excellent channel ... alas, seen em all and I don't think they're making any more. I found this other dude ComboClass -- sort of a whacky Beakman's World sorta dude with excellent quirky math content. He'd fit right in with Brady Haran and the bunch
true true true ...i was one of them...but the comments back WERE tremendously good and well argumented GEEZZZ!
@@WackyAmoebatrons, but that channel’s dead.😢
We might not be an "early civilisation" anyway - if someone else is out there, there's a possibility they're in the same or similar technological era to ourselves and are just so far away we haven't met yet so it just feels early.
They could be 100s of millions of light years away. At best they send a saucer ship with little androids to collect data and continue exploring never to return. Kinda like our own
I know I’m not going to use any of this information in my everyday life, but damn do I like to watch these Space Time videos!
I appreciate the Half-Life & Minecraft references it's always good to have a sense of humor even when talking about science or mathematics.
Excellent episode. I've always been fascinated with elements. In my childhood I really enjoyed my encyclopedia of elements, with histories of their discovery, naming and applications. Feeling nostalgic now:)
Nerd
@@therealslimshadyisnot Of course! Isn't that a prerequisite for this channel?
Adamantium actually is an alloy - not an element. It is a combination of steel and vibranium.
Nerdmaste. The nerd in me recognizes the nerd in you.
It's easy to create never seen before elements. Just throw a bunch of heavy elements into a box and have an Americium sit on it.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has an “Isotope Browser” app that graphically represents all the known elements and their isotopes. I’ve always wondered why there were holes in the graphic-areas with no combination of protons and neutrons.
I was excited to see a chemistry episode, these aren't as common on this channel as the big spacey cosmology ones (which are also fantastic).
@@ClaudiuPurice haha
Chemistry?...>Particle physics...
*you would probably really enjoy this channel then: **th-cam.com/video/RId8H741Avc/w-d-xo.html** the professor and his team are such a joy to watch*
I've looked all over the current periodic table, and i still can't find the element of surprise
2 questions: is life inevitable? And: the periodic table looks as it does because of our 2D representation. What would it look like if it were 3D? What does the 3rd axis represent? And could we then “pry in” new elements that way?
well i suppose you could put that stability chart with the various isotopes on the 3rd axis ( with neutron count as the third axis) but i can't think of it's usefulness.
Unfortunately you can't squeeze in any extra elements on the existing periodic table, except on the end, as each element is defined by the number of protons in the nucleus. And we have everything up to 118.
And the periodic table looks like it does as elements with similar *chemical* properties are grouped together in the vertical columns. Which when you dive into it, is related to the structure of the electrons around the nucleus.
It's just so weird how atoms behave so differently with every addition of a proton. Like how mercury is a liquid metal but most metals are solid in room temperature, or how adding 1 proton to a nitrogen atom turns it into an oxygen atom. Makes you wonder what part of it makes it have unique properties.
Just imagine holding an ingot of this heaviest yet undiscovered element. People are already surprised with the weight of gold. It's nigh on impossible to just hold Uranium for an average person, and yet these elements have the potential of being 3-4 times as heavy as those. Imagine a golf ball that weighs 8 lbs / 4 kg. Nutty.
Great video. Loved it.
There are a few tiny errors in the brief section about Tc in medical imaging. Tc-99m with its 140 keV photon is the "work-horse" of nuclear radiology, and we use a gamma camera to collect those photons. There is a kernel of truth in that it plays an important role in medical imaging. However, it's not a "contrast agent" as radiologists typically use the term, and none of the images shown were of a nuclear medicine study using Tc-99m. The contrast agents used in the images you showed were gadolinium-based (MRI) and iodine-based (CT). These elements do have useful physical properties, but radioactivity isn't among them. Apologies if this has already been pointed out.
The super-heavy island of stability elements might be good, but the tech needed to produce them will probably be even more ground-breaking. It will be next-level of particle manipulation
There are definitely more elements out there in the universe. A lot of which we are completely uncapable of making or even knowing about them . I'm pretty sure there is some very wild stuff out there just waiting to be discovered
what number would they be on the periodic table?
@@DaysDX well there's no telling really The periodic table would have to be adjusted and amended accordingly.
I wonder how much similarity there is between nucleons arranging themselves into their most efficient (and sometime unstable) configuration and protein folding.
I like how the stone age and the silicon age are basically the same elements.
It's fitting to be moving forward and backward at the same time, given the human behaviour we see on the internet.
Hi Matt! Thanks for doing all the amazing shows. I've been seeing a bunch of videos in my feed lately about the presence of xenon-129 on mars only being explainable with massive nuclear detonations some 300 million years ago, I'm very skeptical about that and was wondering what is xenon 129, what are the processes involved in its formation and is it really impossible for it to occur naturally? thanks.
It could be that the (this) universe isn't old enough to have enough heavy particles in one place to generate a stabile super element. But it's possible that we might artificially synthesize such elements.
Thank you for this video on element stability and the nucleus. As a high school chemistry teacher, this will be an excellent enrichment resource for the particularly curious student! 😃
I wish you many curious students.
@@kamilziemian995 Thanks! I'm lucky that most are!
teach your students how to make meth
🤔 the only kind of “guillotined chemistry” I can think of is those amazing, beautiful , intelligent humans that do chemistry to idkkkk produce let’s sayyyy methydioxymethamphetamine (for the spelling, guessed it ) or lysergic diethylamine 😅❤
Vibranium?
It's worth considering that some of the elements we call "radioactive" due in large part to where they are on the Periodic Table, ie. how heavy, are essentially extremely stable, almost not radioactive -- U-238 having a half-life of 4 and a half billion years. Since our models aren't going to predict before we create any new elements among the Island of Stability, there very well could be an isotope or two (or more) that are perfectly stable, even moreso than a U-238 etc. And who knows what secrets that could unlock...
Or they will just fission in nanoseconds...
I just needed to hear that adamantium was on the periodic table
you forgot elemental paperclips. I love you Matt
we were taught in middle school in the mid 1970s about a supposed island of instability. and higher up the elements may settle down and become stable.
I was reading about what might be the largest possible element and saw something saying it might be 137, and thanks to a recent video from here I recognized that number!
I remember reading a acience fiction book deactibing elements that pnly can exost in molecules . I thought that was a pretty creative way of solving the stability problwm.
Another excellent video. Thanks!
The number of topics this channel can cover is the best part of it
Cause if you go deep enough into any phemonom if it's not abstract it's physics, if it is it's math.
This was a really fascinating video. I was particularly interested in your explanation on the instability of technetium which I have received for medical diagnosis. Considering it’s place in the periodic table it is fascinating to know why it does not exist in nature. Thanks to your description I am in a better position to understand
Doesn’t exist in our system. It could in another
We needed less talk about existing elements and more talk about the unknown elements
A new technique of mapping the nucleus has found a possible solution to the mystery of the Technetium 96 and 97. It turns out that Tc 96 has an orphan Neutron that didn't get paired and decayed quickly and Tc97 has an anonymous 4 chain (Proton/Neutron/Neutron/Neutron) that looks like it may cause a low level beta decay. Their stability scores are within the range of a stable nucleus TC96 at 106% and Tc97 104.8%
Glenn T Seaborg lived in an interesting time discovering the transuranic elements above 92 and there is an element Sg named after him.
Cool that we are apparently up to a buck eighteen. The first time I had heard of lab created heavy elements, the max people had done, and barely detected was 111 or 112. Very interesting stuff. Thanks for the vid!
At about 19:00, Matt speaks of possible multiple separate origins of life on Earth, and why that hasn't apparently happened. I think it is just the Grabby Aliens mechanism, but confined to the bounds of our own ecosystem.
Ah, fellow Isaac Arthur enjoyer spotted. 🔭
YES
They do exist but the stability is what we need to talk about. The heavier an element gets, the less stable it becomes. You can make whatever element you want, but keeping it that way is the real trick.
It's funny to theorize that somewhere, -in a galaxy, far far away- some time, at some point, something like Netherite would exist.
That part on the end was my favourite! How delightful to hear of all of these paradoxes in such an interested way :)
The little 'Damnit.' at the end was perfect.
The timing of this video is SO perfect - I just covered isotopes, the gold foil in experiment etc in physics yesterday
You can go on adding 'new elements' which have half lives of a few seconds but they are only curiosities for the lab. I remember there was a supposed to be a hypothetical band of superheavy elements which were 'relatively' stable, but still not found in nature.
OK I put my hands up and apologise - wrote too soon. You do go on to mention the 'island of stability'.
Thought from the video I got -
That today's civilization is just the beginning of Science there's a lot to come which keeps me motivated to be the part of the Science Community.
I loved the isotopes explainer, because this is something a LOT of people simply do not understand is a real feature of our physical world!
Also, imagine the immense pressures needed to make those high proton elements stay together for even a moment!
@@sjoervanderploeg4340 It isn't so much pressure as it is luck.
@@jovetj no, it isn't luck or we wouldn't call it science.
@@sjoervanderploeg4340a very small probability outcome coming true is luck. this doesnt disregard science in any way.
@@muzzletov no, luck is when you do s something without intention.
If you are doing a scientific measurement, you are not measuring luck... but as you said probability.
Your intention is to measure, not to completely fail your understanding of the subject.
This is one of those few episodes of Space Time I can almost completely understand, but I had known about the island for like a decade or more so I had some time to wrap my brain around it.
'Like a decade or more'? You're going to have to explain that one to me. You don't mean a decade, you mean LIKE a decade. Plus 'or more'. What on earth are you trying to say?
@@markfox1545 Let's just say Theodore Gray mentioned it in his book on the Periodic Table, _The Elements._
@@markfox1545 >= ~10
Easy.
@@Xeneonic or more decades ;)
5:02 I’M DEAD LMAO
And according to Professor Wikipedia, we’d probably need a new block for row 8 between the AEMs and REMs because of relativistic effects
I would answer the question "why pursue the island of stability" with the same answer one once answered about Mount Everest:
"Because it might be there".