Despite what we think, some elements on the table have gone extinct and we only know what they are because scientists "developed new fields that let them create elements on their own." They soon found out that the making and breaking of atoms was more intimately bound than anyone expected.
The whole story started at the University of Manchester in England before World War I. One scientist there, Henry Moseley, was drawn to physical sciences. He eventually developed a relation "between the wavelength of X-rays, the number of protons an elements has in its nucleus, and the element's atomic number." He also helped solve the riddle of the atomic number by using physics. He equated the positive charge with the atomic number by doing an experiment nobody could reproduce, and this helped scientists believe in the atomic nucleus. He found gaps in the table and numbers 43, 61, 72, and 75. Sadly, however, he enlisted in the king's army and died at age 27. To pay tribute to him, scientists sought to identify the missing elements he predicted. Element safaris produced hafnium, protactinium, and technetium, while elements 85 and 87 were produced in the lab. Only element 61 remained undiscovered by 1940. It was finally discovered by three scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee around 1949 by sifting through some spend uranium ore. But by this time, the enthusiasm died down because the enormity of nuclear science had changed- people had seen things. For example, Otto Hahn had experimented on fission- the splitting of an uranium atom. The field of radioactivity was being developed. At this point, scientists were very frustrated with the periodic table and explaining isotopes and the features of alpha and beta decay. Finally, everything made sense when, in 1932, James Chadwick discovered neutral neutrons. The neutron helped explain isotopes and how alpha decay and beta decay worked. It was used to probe atomic innards. Soon, a new type of radioactivity was induced- a chain reaction. With all this and the possibility of an atomic bomb, and a world war starting, scientists didn't spend a lot of time looking for promethium- the last element.
Eventually, it was discovered and the atomic bomb was made. And this marked the start of a whole new science.
It is weird to find out that some elements are extinct. Then that sort of raises the question of "how long have they been extinct?". I bet that guy who had discovered element 64 felt giped. He got like no hype or praise for it cause people had already been experimenting with radioactivity. If only he would have found it sooner, right?
ReplyDeleteThat is a very interesting question, but how long it has been extinct depends on which element you are talking about. And back then, lots of scientists competed for recognition for many things that would win them a Nobel Prize. Science was not a very kind field to go into back in those days!
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