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Post by mak2 on Sept 25, 2010 15:08:51 GMT 1
How many chemical elements are there?
It is a simple question.
There are two ways of interpreting it.
So let's make it a two part question.
(i) How many naturally occurring elements?
(ii)How many altogether, including artificially created elements?
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Post by abacus9900 on Sept 25, 2010 15:39:15 GMT 1
How many chemical elements are there? It is a simple question. There are two ways of interpreting it. So let's make it a two part question. (i) How many naturally occurring elements? (ii)How many altogether, including artificially created elements? There are 118 elements in total of which 92 are naturally occurring. |
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Post by Progenitor A on Sept 25, 2010 16:04:59 GMT 1
How many chemical elements are there? It is a simple question. There are two ways of interpreting it. So let's make it a two part question. (i) How many naturally occurring elements? (ii)How many altogether, including artificially created elements? There are 118 elements in total of which 92 are naturally occurring. Thanks Abacus Elementary really. Mind you I am weak on chemistry although some will no doubt support me by ofering that I am weak at all sciences |
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Post by abacus9900 on Sept 25, 2010 18:28:41 GMT 1
What was the point of the question?
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Post by Progenitor A on Sept 26, 2010 9:38:01 GMT 1
What was the point of the question? Ah! That I don't know What was the point? |
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Post by mak2 on Sept 30, 2010 15:40:21 GMT 1
To get the answer.
Most people think 92 but they are probably wrong.
Neptunium and Plutonium occur naturally, in very small amounts.
On the other hand, it is doubtful whether Technetium does occur naturally.
How do you know there are only 118 in total?
More will probably be created/discovered.
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Post by mak2 on Oct 1, 2010 21:08:51 GMT 1
A fairly large number have read this thread. So there is some interest.
This is what I have found out from various hopefully reliable sources.
The number of naturally occurring elements is not 92 or even 42.
It is 94.
They start from hydrogen, with atomic number 1, up to plutonium, element number 94.
Plutonium does occur naturally but in such small amounts that it is normally made artificially in nuclear reactors.
There are only 80 stable elements ( 1 or more stable isotope ). The rest are radioactive.
There are 4 that have such long half-lives that they have lasted since the origin of the earth.
Bismuth (83), thorium (90), uranium (92) and plutonium (94). That makes 84 primordial elements.
The other 10 could not have lasted so long. They are only found, in very small quantities, because they are produced by radioactive decay of other elements.
Not content with 94, physicists have produced no less than 24 more synthetic elements, up to number 118. It is very likely that more will be created in the next few years.
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Post by StuartG on Oct 1, 2010 23:11:33 GMT 1
How about all that dark matter www.wisegeek.com/how-many-chemical-elements-are-there.htmor anti-matter csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/cosmology/antimatter.html"Could the Dark Matter be Antimatter? It is conceivable that the dark matter (or at least part of it) could be antimatter, but there are very strong experimental reasons to doubt this. For example, if the dark matter out there were antimatter, we would expect it to annihilate with matter whenever it meets up with it, releasing bursts of energy primarily in the form of light. We see no evidence in careful observations for that, which leads most scientists to believe that whatever the dark matter is, it is not antimatter. " en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Janet"Janet also envisaged an 'element zero' - whose 'atom' would consist of two neutrons, and he speculated that this would be the link to a mirror-image table of elements with negative atomic numbers - in effect anti-matter. He also conceived heavy hydrogen. He died just before the discovery of the neutron and heavy hydrogen.[5]" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matterSo while waiting for this to sort itself out, just do a list of anti-matter elements, not forgetting element zero... Stuart ps. 'How many elements are there?' about 241 [altogether] pps. call the negative ones 'j' elements |
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Post by helen on Oct 14, 2010 17:38:35 GMT 1
Have a listen to all the blogs here. So it produced by the RSC........is that not a good thing? You can pick and choose the elements as is the whim that takes you. You make take issue with some of the ideas raised and having Johnny Ball as pre-presenter but remember this is GCSE primer. Quite superb www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/element.aspThis look at the periodic table is also excellent, takes me back to the way we learned chemistry at school during the seventies but of course we can't teach it like this now! www.periodicvideos.com/ click on all the links too, they're fabulous! |
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Post by helen on Oct 14, 2010 22:22:42 GMT 1
OK Mak 99.99999999 of the elements found on Earth are natural. That fractions of a percent that fail to make the 100 per cent mark is mostly Technicium, element 46; it's an odd one, Mendeleev was aware of it several decades before it was proved to exist, good for him and germanium and gallium. Those post atomic weight 92 are simply so unstable that their exisistance on Earth can only be trififuly minimum; part of some decay process and by being so toxic is it any wonder? There's life here on Earth!!!!!
Anti-elements? Hmmmmm, don't know about that, have to go back to HG Wells and Gene Roddenberry for evidennce there!
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Post by olmy on Oct 15, 2010 9:25:46 GMT 1
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Post by mak2 on Oct 15, 2010 10:04:39 GMT 1
There is antimony.
The previous government created large amounts of it.
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Post by Progenitor A on Oct 15, 2010 10:11:28 GMT 1
There is antimony. The previous government created large amounts of it. ;D |
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Post by Mr Red on Oct 18, 2010 10:31:27 GMT 1
I know what he sediment, but not wot the element.
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