I am aware that there are two types of elements. Natural and synthetic/man made.
How do scientists make them?
How is it possible?
Please explain it like I’m actually five. If that’s not possible then explain it like I’m 10.
I am aware that there are two types of elements. Natural and synthetic/man made.
How do scientists make them?
How is it possible?
Please explain it like I’m actually five. If that’s not possible then explain it like I’m 10.
Comments
arent technically all elements natural but its just that some of them have a half-life of just a few microseconds?
Everything is made of tiny particles called atoms. Inside atoms there is an even tinier thing called a proton. Different atoms (think the periodic table) have different numbers of protons (hydrogen, spot 1 on the periodic table, has one proton, helium has 2 etc)
To make new elements, scientists smash existing atoms together and try to get the protons to combine.
If, for example, you smash hydrogen and helium together justttttttt right, you can combine the protons into one atom, making lithium (three protons)
If you smash two atoms that have a total number of protons that doesn’t exist (ie 119) you make a new type of atom. Scientists made element 118 (oganesson) by smashing calcium (20 protons) into californium (98 protons).
This smashing happens inside giant equipment like a large hadron collider where the protons are sped up to 99.9999999% the speed of light. It’s super super rare to actually get two atoms to hit, so takes forever to actually make a new atom.
Whether natural or synthetic, there are two ways to make atoms: glue two smaller atoms together, or break one bigger atom down.
To glue two atoms together, you need to smash them into each other and hope they stick. This isn’t as easy as it sounds because putting two atoms together is like putting the wrong end of two magnets together: they want to push away from each other. This happens naturally inside of stars, but on Earth we’ve needed to develop a lot of technology solely for the purpose of smashing atoms together faster and faster, like the Large Hadron Collider.
To break down a bigger atom is actually a lot easier. Atoms that are too heavy don’t like existing, so they will naturally break down through radioactive decay. This can be slow or fast, and you can only get certain atoms out of it. If we want to make it happen faster, or if we want to change what atoms we get, we can shoot neutrons at the atom to break it apart differently (using the same technology as smashing atoms together).
So we make synthetic elements in the same ways that nature makes elements, just with a bit more control and a lot more machines.