• Question: How many elements do you think there are or could be discovered?

    Asked by iswiminwaterh2o to Claire, Kate, Matt, Rob, Sam on 17 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Robert Woolfson

      Robert Woolfson answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      There are around 120 elements known so far. About 100 occur in nature and the rest have been made in particle accelerators and tend to be very unstable.

      How many elements are possible is a very interesting question. Whether an element is stable depends on the interactions between the protons and neutrons that make up the core of the atom. There are predictions of islands of stability for much heavier elements but the honest answer is we don’t really know.

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      I study the elements that make up rocks and minerals, so in my world there are only 88 elements – because the rest are unstable. The most common element on earth is oxygen – not just in the air or as part of water (H2O) but as what makes up most rocks and minerals. Lucky for us we need oxygen to breathe huh?!

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