New chemical elements are discovered by creating or identifying atoms with a number of protons that has never before been confirmed in a known element. Because elements heavier than uranium are generally unstable, scientists often produce them by accelerating atomic nuclei to high speeds and making them collide with the nuclei of other atoms. The resulting atoms may exist for only fractions of a second, so researchers must detect their decay products and gather enough evidence to establish that a new element has formed.
Discovering an element is only the beginning. Scientists must also verify the results, establish that the element has a unique atomic number, and receive formal recognition from the international organizations responsible for chemical nomenclature and the periodic table. This process combines nuclear physics, sophisticated instrumentation, international collaboration, and careful scientific review.
What makes a chemical element unique?
Every chemical element is defined by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in the nucleus of each of its atoms. Hydrogen has one proton, helium has two, carbon has six, and oxygen has eight. Gold has 79, while uranium has 92.
The number of protons determines an atom’s identity because it establishes the positive charge of the nucleus and, in a neutral atom, the number of electrons surrounding it. Those electrons largely determine how the atom behaves chemically.
An atom with 118 protons is therefore an atom of oganesson, regardless of how many neutrons it contains. If scientists produce an atom with 119 protons, they have created a new element, even if it survives for only an instant.
Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons. These variations are called isotopes. Carbon-12 and carbon-14, for example, both contain six protons but have six and eight neutrons, respectively. They remain carbon because their atomic numbers are identical.
This distinction is essential to element discovery. Producing a previously unknown isotope of an established element does not create a new element. Scientists must demonstrate the existence of a nucleus with a previously unconfirmed number of protons.
The periodic table organizes elements in order of increasing atomic number. Its structure reflects recurring patterns in electron configurations and chemical properties, allowing scientists to predict how elements behave and how newly discovered ones may fit into the broader system.
How scientists discover new elements
The methods used to discover elements depend on whether the element already exists in nature or must be produced artificially.
Many naturally occurring elements were identified through the study of minerals, chemical reactions, and radioactive materials. Scientists isolated unfamiliar substances, measured their properties, and eventually determined that they represented distinct elements.
Today, however, the search for elements beyond uranium relies primarily on nuclear physics. These very heavy elements are generally too unstable to accumulate naturally in quantities that scientists can readily collect. Some may occur in extremely small amounts through rare nuclear processes, but laboratory experiments are the principal route to producing and studying them.
The basic challenge is to bring atomic nuclei close enough together for the strong nuclear force to bind them. Because nuclei are positively charged, they repel one another through the electromagnetic force. Overcoming that repulsion requires substantial energy, and even a successful collision rarely produces the desired new element.
Scientists therefore conduct experiments in specialized facilities equipped with particle accelerators, highly sensitive detectors, and systems designed to identify individual nuclear reactions.
Creating new elements in particle accelerators
A particle accelerator increases the speed and energy of charged particles. In heavy-element research, scientists commonly accelerate ions, which are atoms that have gained or lost electrons, and direct them toward a thin target containing another element.
For example, researchers might accelerate ions of one element toward a target made from another. If an incoming nucleus approaches a target nucleus closely enough, the two may fuse into a single, heavier nucleus.
This process is called nuclear fusion. It is related to the process that powers stars, although laboratory experiments involving superheavy elements use carefully selected nuclear reactions under very different conditions.
Fusion does not guarantee success. The two nuclei may simply scatter away from one another, or they may form a temporary combined system that breaks apart before a stable new nucleus can emerge. Even when a nucleus survives the initial collision, it may be too unstable to be detected as the desired element.
To improve their chances, researchers select projectile and target combinations based on nuclear properties, including their proton and neutron numbers, and adjust the collision energy. Too little energy may prevent the nuclei from approaching closely enough. Too much can make the resulting system more likely to break apart.
The choice of materials also matters. Suitable target materials can be difficult to produce, highly radioactive, or available only in small quantities. Targets may deteriorate under intense bombardment, limiting how long an experiment can run.
As a result, discovering a new element can require lengthy experiments in which enormous numbers of projectiles strike a target without producing even one atom of the element being sought.
Detecting an atom that may exist for only an instant
Creating a new element is difficult, but proving that it was created is another challenge. Superheavy elements typically have very short half-lives, meaning that a substantial fraction of their atoms decay over brief periods.
A half-life is the time required for half the atoms in a radioactive sample to decay. Some superheavy isotopes survive for seconds or longer, while others disappear in much less time. Researchers cannot generally collect enough material for conventional chemical tests, so they must identify these atoms through their nuclear behavior.
After a collision, a newly formed nucleus may travel away from the target at high speed. Instruments can separate it from many unwanted reaction products using differences in mass, electric charge, or other physical properties. Detectors then record its arrival and monitor what happens next.
One particularly useful signal is a sequence of radioactive decays. An unstable nucleus may emit an alpha particle, which consists of two protons and two neutrons. This emission reduces the nucleus’s atomic number by two and its mass number by four. The daughter nucleus may then decay again, creating a recognizable chain of events.
By measuring the energies and timing of these emissions, researchers can compare the observed pattern with the nuclear properties expected for particular isotopes. If a decay chain ends in a nucleus already well characterized, that connection can provide strong evidence about the identity of the original atom.
Other measurements, including spontaneous fission, in which a nucleus splits into smaller nuclei, can also help establish what was produced.
No single signal automatically proves that a new element exists. Scientists must consider whether the observations could have resulted from background radiation, an unrelated nuclear reaction, or an error in interpreting the data. The smaller the number of detected atoms, the more carefully researchers must evaluate the evidence.
How scientists confirm a discovery
A claim of a new element must withstand scientific scrutiny because it changes the established record of the elements and their atomic numbers.
Researchers analyze their experimental results, document the equipment and methods used, and explain why the observations support the proposed identification. They assess competing interpretations and determine whether the evidence is sufficiently reliable to distinguish the claimed element from other possible reaction products.
Reproducibility is an important scientific principle, but it does not always mean that another laboratory must immediately create the same element independently. Superheavy-element experiments are expensive, technically demanding, and dependent on specialized facilities. Independent confirmation may take time, and a combination of new experiments, improved measurements, and agreement with established nuclear physics can contribute to a strong case.
Scientific reviewers also examine whether the observations fit known patterns of nuclear decay and whether the conclusions are justified by the number and quality of events recorded.
A reported discovery can therefore remain provisional while researchers investigate it further. If evidence is inadequate or later measurements contradict the original interpretation, the claim may not be accepted.
This caution protects the periodic table from being changed on the basis of an isolated or misleading result. Recognition follows the strength of the evidence, not simply the announcement of a successful experiment.
Who decides whether a new element belongs on the periodic table?
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, commonly known as IUPAC, plays a central role in the formal recognition and naming of new elements. Its work includes coordinating the evaluation of discovery claims and establishing internationally accepted chemical names and symbols.
The discovery of an element and the naming of that element are related but distinct steps. First, the scientific community must establish that the element has been discovered. Only then can the formal naming process proceed.
IUPAC works with the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, or IUPAP, in evaluating claims involving new elements. Expert joint working groups may assess the experimental evidence, the interpretation of nuclear properties, and the strength of the case that the claimed element has been established.
When a discovery is recognized, the researchers responsible are generally invited to propose a name and symbol. The proposed name may honor a scientist, refer to a place or geographical region, reflect a mineral, or draw on a concept from mythology or another area of scientific history. Established naming conventions guide the choice.
The proposed name and symbol undergo review and are opened to a period of public comment before formal approval. This helps ensure that the name is appropriate, distinctive, and consistent with international chemical practice.
Once the name is approved, it becomes the element’s accepted international designation. The periodic table can then be updated to reflect the new element and its atomic number.
The process separates experimental discovery from international standardization. Researchers establish what nature has allowed them to create; the scientific community evaluates the evidence; and the relevant international organizations coordinate the element’s official recognition and name.
Why the periodic table has a limit in its confirmed elements
The periodic table’s structure provides a clear rule for adding elements: each new element must have an atomic number one greater than the preceding element. Yet there is no simple guarantee that scientists can create every possible element merely by increasing the number of protons.
As nuclei become heavier, the balance between nuclear forces becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. The strong nuclear force binds protons and neutrons together over short distances, while the electrical repulsion between protons pushes the nucleus apart.
Neutrons help stabilize a nucleus because they contribute to the strong nuclear interaction without adding electrical repulsion. Even so, the heaviest nuclei are often unstable and can decay through alpha emission, spontaneous fission, or other radioactive processes.
The combination of nuclear forces determines whether a nucleus can survive long enough to be observed. Some nuclei break apart almost immediately, while others persist long enough for detectors to identify them.
Scientists also face practical limits. Producing suitable target materials, maintaining accelerator facilities, and detecting extremely rare events all require substantial resources. As atomic numbers increase, finding a reaction that produces a detectable nucleus becomes progressively more challenging.
The next element after oganesson, element 118, would have atomic number 119. It has not been established as a confirmed element in the recognized periodic table. Researchers have investigated possible ways to produce elements beyond 118, but the difficulty of creating and identifying them remains considerable.
There is also a theoretical question about how far the periodic table might extend. Nuclear models can help estimate which superheavy nuclei might exist and how long they might survive, but predictions become less certain in regions where experimental evidence is limited. Scientists cannot yet state with confidence the highest atomic number at which an element could exist.
The island of stability and the search for longer-lived nuclei
One important idea guiding superheavy-element research is the island of stability. It refers to a predicted region among very heavy nuclei where certain combinations of protons and neutrons may make the nuclei more stable than neighboring superheavy isotopes.
Nuclei contain protons and neutrons arranged in quantum states. Nuclear models suggest that particular numbers of protons or neutrons can produce especially favorable configurations, somewhat analogous to the way filled electron shells influence atomic properties.
These especially favorable nuclear arrangements are associated with magic numbers, numbers of protons or neutrons that provide enhanced nuclear stability. Scientists have identified several such numbers in established nuclei, but predictions about the most important shell closures in the superheavy region remain uncertain.
If an island of stability exists as predicted, some nuclei in that region might survive substantially longer than nearby superheavy nuclei. That would make them easier to study and could open new possibilities for investigating the chemistry and physics of extremely heavy atoms.
However, the term does not mean that the nuclei would necessarily be stable forever. It describes a relative increase in stability within a region of nuclei that may still be radioactive. The location, extent, and practical accessibility of the predicted island remain active scientific questions.
Research into this region influences the choice of target materials, projectile nuclei, and experimental energies. It also helps scientists decide which possible reactions offer the most promising routes toward new elements.
What happens after a new element is discovered?
Once an element has been recognized and named, scientists continue investigating its properties. Adding a symbol to the periodic table does not mean that researchers already know everything about the element.
For superheavy elements, early experiments may establish little more than the existence of particular isotopes and the characteristic ways they decay. Additional work can determine their half-lives, nuclear masses, decay energies, and other properties.
Understanding their chemistry is even more demanding. Chemical behavior depends largely on electron configurations, but the heaviest elements can exhibit unusual effects because their electrons move in the intense electric field of a highly charged nucleus. Relativistic effects, which arise when electrons behave in ways that require a relativistic description, can influence their energies and chemical interactions.
Scientists can sometimes perform specialized chemical experiments with extremely small numbers of atoms, but short lifetimes and low production rates place strict limits on what can be measured. The chemical properties of the heaviest elements are therefore often less thoroughly established than those of familiar elements.
The periodic table nevertheless remains useful even when experimental information is sparse. Atomic number fixes an element’s position, while quantum theory provides a framework for predicting its electron configuration and likely relationships with other elements. Those predictions can guide future experiments, although they do not replace measurements.
Discovering an element thus begins a longer scientific investigation rather than ending one.
Why discovering new elements matters
New elements help scientists test fundamental ideas about the structure of atomic nuclei. Each additional superheavy nucleus provides information about how protons and neutrons interact, which nuclear configurations can exist, and how accurately theoretical models describe matter under extreme conditions.
These discoveries also improve understanding of radioactive decay and the limits of nuclear stability. Comparing predicted properties with measured results allows researchers to refine models that may be useful in other areas of nuclear science.
The immediate practical applications of newly discovered superheavy elements are limited. Their scarcity, radioactivity, and short lifetimes make them unsuitable for most everyday uses. Their scientific value lies primarily in expanding knowledge rather than supplying new industrial materials.
The process also demonstrates how modern science works. A new element is not accepted simply because a laboratory reports a promising result. Researchers must create or identify the appropriate nucleus, collect reliable evidence, test alternative explanations, and submit their findings to rigorous evaluation. International organizations then coordinate formal recognition and naming.
The periodic table is therefore both a reference for known matter and a record of an ongoing scientific effort. Its organization rests on the fixed relationship between atomic number and elemental identity, while its outermost boundary reflects the current limits of nuclear physics, experimental technology, and verified evidence.