Will We Ever Finish the Periodic Table?

Currently, there are 118 elements on the periodic table—you'd think we'd be done adding them by now, but turns out we may never be! Join Michael Aranda and learn about the newest elements and what might be the next one in this fun episode of SciShow!

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[Maddin]

Limit of 256? It's time to upgrade to 16-bit then!

[anniejones]

I love the bit about how the element Feynman predicted couldn’t exist is going to be Feynmanium, because if you read his book, that totally matches his sense of humor.

[Sherko]

I like this SciShow host: he's clear, has good presentation skills and seems sincerely interested in popularizing scientific knowledge. Give this man a raise!

[Generalth]

I'm hoping element 126 (or thereabouts) is stable and useful. It would be so cool if we could make new materials that existed literally only on Earth -- and nowhere else in the known Universe!

[oAirehko]

I was never good at memorizing the table in high school chemistry. I suddenly all these years later had a fascination with the possibility of new elements and how they would come to be. Really amazing stuff.

[G_Rad_Ski]

Feynman would definitely have had a good sense of humor about 137 if that was the case.

[LucarioBoricua]

Atomic weight of 256 seems like an initial "practical" upper bound to the Periodic Table. That's right around Einstenium and Fermium, which were the heaviest elements to be made in macroscopic quantities. Until we figure out how to make and stabilize more proportionately neutron-rich element synthesis, heavier elements will continue to be produced in quantities which are too small to be practical for all but the most basic chemical and physical research.

[upandatom]

Feynman is never wrong!
jks he's been wrong plenty of times but is still god
ps. he'd love having an element named after him no matter the circumstance

[pnkflyd]

I wanted to tell you a joke about the elements but all the good ones Argon

[Sheldonman]

0:25 Elliot Quincy Adams? More like Elliot Quincy ATOMS

[percyveler]

I understand Feynman's point about electrons theoretically moving faster than the speed of light, but electrons don't "orbit" in the classic, Newtonian sense of the word. I'm sure Feynman accounted for that, but can someone offer an explanation on why that is still a limit?

[sharkaboi]

Just stop researching till I complete my degree xD

[ucasvb]

Shouldn't element 138 be called Feynmanium, not 137? THAT would be a good joke.

[IxousLouis]

256 ? That gotta be some kind of optimisation feature hard coded in the universe's code ! (just kiding, I hope)

[fatterhorner]

Since everyone else is making chemistry jokes...


Two chemists walk into a bar. The first chemist says, "I'll have some H2O." The second chemist says, "I'll have some H2O, too." The second chemist dies.

[Near_Void]

About the island of stability around 122. this might be the point at which we can use those elements to create newer ones

[allenm]

This may sound stupid, but how did people know an atom's atomic weight if they didn't know what protons were?

[Crafterrian]

Great, but when are we going to create Australium.

[boulderbash]

Oh, just name it Feynmanium. Knowing his reputation, he would just chuckled.

[WalkingL]

I used to tell chemistry jokes until I got no reaction out of it.