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Why has the periodic table not expanded for 10 years? 为何元素周期表十年来未添新成员？

Episode 260521 / 21 May 2026

本集内容

Why has the periodic table not expanded for 10 years?

为何元素周期表十年来未添新成员？

文字稿

The periodic table contains all known chemical elements.

元素周期表囊括了所有已知的化学元素。

It's been expanding ever since chemists like Dmitri Mendeleev first drew it up in the 19th century.

自 19 世纪德米特里·门捷列夫等化学家首次制定出这张图表以来，它就在不断地扩容。

But more than ten years have passed since the last elements were added.

但已经有十多年没有新元素被添加进来了。

So, why have no new ones been discovered since?

那么，为什么一直没有新元素被发现呢？

An element is made of atoms.

元素由原子组成。

At the centre of an atom is a nucleus containing protons and neutrons.

原子的中心是原子核，由质子和中子构成。

Positively-charged protons naturally repel each other, but they're glued together by uncharged neutrons.

带正电的质子天然会互相排斥，但它们被不带电的中子紧紧 “黏合” 在一起。

Each new member of the periodic table has one extra proton.

元素周期表上的每个新成员都会比前一个多出一个质子。

And, if there's not enough neutrons, it could all fall apart.

而如果没有足够的中子，整个原子核就会 “散架”。

The heaviest elements in the periodic table are radioactive and unstable.

元素周期表上最重的那些元素都具有放射性，极不稳定。

They have to be made in labs with expensive, cutting-edge tech, and they might only last for a fraction of a second.

这些元素只能在实验室环境中利用昂贵的尖端技术制造出来，而且可能只存在几分之几秒。

So, even if a scientist can make one, proving it existed is another battle.

因此，即便科学家能制造出一种新元素，如何证明它存在过又是另一场艰难的挑战。

重点词汇或表达

periodic table 元素周期表

draw (something) up 制定出、设计出

repel 排斥

fall apart 散架，解体

a fraction of a second 不到一秒钟、极其短暂的一瞬

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