Science Nerds ------> Question
 

They say that everything in the Universe is made from the chemical elements in the periodic table, not including 'dark matter'. How the hell can they know this, the Universe is vast, how do they know there aren't other elements in other parts of the Universe? We can't even see the entire Universe never mind visit or probe it. :helpme

I like dark matters... :2 cents:

Where did you get this idea that they say/think they absolutely know for sure how many elements there are? The periodic table consists of the known elements, there might be plenty more out there in the universe we don't know about yet - and when we find them we add them to the periodic table. There's plenty of "gaps" in the table as it stands right now that scientists believe we'll eventually "fill in" as we find the elements.

All of this information is freely available online, and it's something you were likely even taught in grade school. You should probably read the wiki page on simple things like this before asking relatively dumb questions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table

In fact, humans can even create new elements to add to the periodic table (Since the periodic table is a list of elements whose number is the number of protons in their nucleus).

Meet 115, the Newest Element on the Periodic Table

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...eriodic-table/


-- Hope that helps

good answer! Way too often the wrong presumptions lead to the wrong questions.

Who is they or did you just make that up to post another thread.

Mutt, 'dark matter' refers to 'not knowing what the fuck it is' i.e. for our understanding how it all works, there is 'x' amount of 'stuff' ..... we can only figure out what 30% of the 'stuff' is..... I read once that some guy thought dark matter was created when 'x' particle collided with 'anti matter ' particle ,micro seconds from the future ...like whoa.. WTF? right?

the reality of the deal we don't actually know what 'gravity' is... this is the explanation I heard: 2 men, 2k miles apart at the equator both head 'exactly true north'. eventually they meet at the north pole... and have no idea why?

this is the simplicity of our lack of understanding of 'gravity'... so to make our theories all balance out we 'add' 70% 'what the fuck is that?' or 'dark matter' to the universe....

and no mater how fucked that is.... the problem is they can prove quantum mechanics theory by real life experimentation...

here's something else really fucked up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement i.e. a 'particular of matter?' can be in 2 places at once and effect each others behaviors. however they haven't really figured out which 2 places... they have done experiments to see this effect BUT out in the 'wild' there is no understanding of the relationships and patterns. ... i.e. a piece of your left nut might be in some content chicks butthole or Obama's butthole or crockets butthole or alpha centauri...

From Wikipedia:

Although all known chemical matter is composed of these elements, chemical matter itself is hypothesized to constitute only about 15% of the matter in the universe. The remainder is believed to be dark matter, a range of substances whose composition is largely unknown and not composed of chemical elements, since it lacks protons, neutrons or electrons.

they are talking about known and explored part of the universe :winkwink:

This was a man-made element. How do we know we've found all of the naturally occurring elements?

The good thing with elements is that they're defined by atomic numbers, meaning they're defined by the number of protons in the nucleus. This number is never a fraction, so you can't have, say, 3.2 protons in a nucleus. So we know we have them all because we know of an element with one proton and an element with two protons and so on.

************************************************** ***************

And there you have it, 'we have them all'

The new element 115 is a man made element.

This question is not worth the answer of a science nerd. A generic nerd suffices.

Because the sun makes all the matter that creates us. And they dont state they know all the elements in the universe, they just found a new one :)

there are 4 forces of nature:
The Strong Force
Weak Force
Electromagnetic Force
Gravity

The first two forces place a theoretical limit on the "size" of the element. if it gets to big, it will simply fly apart.

answer: science is heresy

Well, i was wrong, they do state it, and I agree with you mutt, seems to easy

This was a man-made element. How do we know we've found all of the naturally occurring elements?

The good thing with elements is that they're defined by atomic numbers, meaning they're defined by the number of protons in the nucleus. This number is never a fraction, so you can't have, say, 3.2 protons in a nucleus. So we know we have them all because we know of an element with one proton and an element with two protons and so on.

This scientist is saying they know they have all the natural elements, which means that any new element won't be 'found', it will be made in a laboratory.

Up hill for you , when you dont even understand the written word in from of you.
Let me break it Down for you.

- "Although all known chemical matter is composed of these elements"
- "chemical matter itself is hypothesized to constitute only about 15% of the matter in the universe"
- "The remainder is believed to be dark matter"

So, to sum it up;
15% of the matter in the universe is hypothesized to be Chemical, the rest is dark matter.
OF the 15% Chemical matter, we know and have identified whats in the periodic table

Yes, sry again, I agree with your feelings on the matter

The 'periodic table' is just our 'periodic table' for where we are based in the universe :2 cents:

It turns out that roughly 68% of the Universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%.

Don't bother... There are only 5 elements...

um, i knew that and in my original post I excluded dark matter. and i was right, scientists say with authority that we have discovered all the natural occurring elements already. my question was how do they know that.

They don't. They just claim it.

Some might claim it, just as you have people that belive the Words of the bible. But find me a trustworthy source that will quote what you claimed

the world is definitely flat!

does that put some perspective on it?

I agree :thumbsup

believe you just helped yourself..

Want to know something really cool about the Universe?

First, it's expanding, but everyone knew this already.

What will really bend your brain is this: The rate at which the universe is expanding, is accelerating.

To me, that is stunning... the rate should be decreasing but just the opposite is happening... incredible.

Scientists can use the color spectrum from distant objects. When looking at the color spectrum, gaps appear. Based on the gaps, scientists can determine what elements are present. Have they all been found? Who knows.

"Peaks and dips at specific points in a spectrum indicate the presence of elements like carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, iron, and more. That information can be used to make other conclusions about the object. Stars that contain just hydrogen and helium, for example, formed early in the universe. Stars with heavier elements formed later, after their predecessors exploded and seeded the universe with those elements."

http://hubblesite.org/laserart/spectra.php

Yeah! Science bitch!

suggesting not all elements have been found, because not all have been 'created yet'

Agreed. 8 chars.