• Question: Hello, we are young boys wondering: what is the closest you have come to discovering a new element?

    Asked by jerryfabode to Chia-Yu, Helen, Matthew, Matt H, Rhod on 17 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Helen Pritchard-Smith

      Helen Pritchard-Smith answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      Not close at all sadly as it would be great getting to name an element on the periodic table! what would you call one if you discovered an element?
      The most recently discovered elements have been detected by particle physicists.

    • Photo: Matt Carnie

      Matt Carnie answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      All naturally occurring elements have already been discovered but because of the genius of the periodic table we can predict which elements are left. Some elements do not exist in nature and can be made by particle and nuclear physicists. Some are theoretical and haven’t been made yet.

      Discovering new elements is not part of my filed so unfortunately it’s unlikely that I’ll discover a new element I’m afraid.

    • Photo: Matthew Hudson

      Matthew Hudson answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      Discovering new elements is not easy! As Matt said above, all of the natural elements are already in place in the periodic table.

      I have worked a a syncrotron facility in Switzerland called ESRF. This is a place that looks like a giant donut…

      But it’s actually a HUGE science lab. They make electrons wizz around and around inside that donut until they are super super fast and then smash them into things and see what happens. This is how many of the latest elements have been artificially created in labs. We didn’t manage to make any though 🙁

    • Photo: Rhodri Jenkins

      Rhodri Jenkins answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Very far. As Matt and Matt have said, there are people who do this research and it takes a lot of investment, both with time and money to develop the techniques and equipment to make and analyse what is made.

      Did you know that some of the elements on the periodic table have actually only existed for a fraction of a second, only long enough to be seen?

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