• Question: are there any elements not yet discovered? can some be able to make an explosion when reacted with other substances?

    Asked by to Claire, Sergey on 27 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Claire Shooter

      Claire Shooter answered on 27 Jun 2014:

      Considering that we have already discovered another new element this year I would say there are a lot more to come! Whether an element can create an explosion or not depends on the number of free electrons it has, and what other element you decide to mix it with to cause a violent exothermic reaction.

      So yes, more elements and more explosions are likely 🙂

    • Photo: Sergey Lamzin

      Sergey Lamzin answered on 27 Jun 2014:

      Technically the way we define elements (by the number of protons) there is an infinite number of yet undiscovered elements.

      All of those discovered so far though are unstable, means they fall apart when created in a lab and chances are that any new ones also will be.
      This is also the reason why they don’t appear naturally. They just fall apart straight away.

      Unstable elements can always be used to make nuclear explosions. It’s the very way nukes work. Problem is keeping the unstable substance long enough for it to actually explode 🙂

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