So have all the elements been found?

Question

Scientists often look at other galaxies and by studing them in the telescope they seem to know what elements that galaxy mostly has.

So my question is are all the elements in the known universe been found or are they using the current knowledge we have on elements to make this prediction?

Answer 1

All the chemical elements (those formed of neutrons, protons, and electrons) have been theoretically predicted (a trivial fact), but we've only actually found the first 111 of them. The larger the elements get, the more unstable they get. There are predicted "islands of stability" at higher numbers, but so far nobody had found any elements of this type.

Of course, that does not mean they don't exist somewhere in the universe.

Answer 2

We have found all of the elements that exist naturally on this planet, with uranium being the heaviest. The "trans uranium" elements are all synthetically produced.

Since we cannot have half a proton, it is unlikely that we could find other elements lighter than uranium, in outer space. But it could be possible that some trans uranium elements could be found elsewhere, even though not naturally occuring on Earth. Some scietists have theorized "islands of stability" at high atomic numbers.

Answer 3

All of the elements of atomic number 1-112 have been found or made on earth. It is thought that there is an "island of stability" around atomic number 125 that may lead to production of new elements that last long enough to detect.

Answer 4

Not all elements have been found. Elements are still being discovered (though so unstable that they exist for very very very short periods of time). We are adding to the periodic table and discovering more and more, but the most "significant" elements have been found.

Answer 5

As far as I understand, scientists have discovered all naturally occurring elements. However, it is possible to create additional synthetic (man-made) elements in a lab (somehow - no idea how, sorry).