ENCYCLOPEDIA 4U .com



Encyclopedia Home Page

Google
  Web Encyclopedia4u.com

 

Synthetic element

The chemical elements labelled as "synthetic" are unstable, with a half-life so short (from a few million years to a fraction of millisecond) relative to the age of the Earth that any atoms of that element that may have been present when the Earth formed have long since completely decayed away. Hence they are only known on Earth as the product of nuclear reactors or particle accelerators.

The first synthetic element discovered was technetium, which filled a gap in the periodic table, and the discovery that there were no stable isotopes of technetium explained its absence on Earth: its 4.2 million year half-life meant that none remained from the time of formation of the Earth.





Content on this web site is provided for informational purposes only. We accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information published on this site. We encourage you to verify any critical information with the relevant authorities.



Copyright © 2005 Par Web Solutions All Rights reserved.
| Privacy

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Synthetic element".