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Originally Posted by Eratosthenes
... .interesting comments by your Physics Professor.
In a reductionist world new particles seem to spew out from bigger and bigger particle accelerators - ie as the collision energy increases.
A little bit like the super elements scientists create in the Laboratory environment which are so unstable that they effectively vanish the moment they are created, but appear long enough to be detected.
Very fat nuclei crammed with protons and neutrons. A Russian team created a super element with 117 protons (atomic number). The theory suggests that there is a region or island of stability for super elements.
But is this discovery meaningful (as your good professor asks)? The largest naturally occurring element that has a stable isotope is U92. There are a few heavier elements such as Pu which are synthetic by-products of human endevours such as nuclear weapons explosions and nuclear power plant coriums.
Science is a very strange religion sometimes. There are rheologists that make the claim that solids are really liquids that have high yield stress values and are flowing slowly.
very odd days indeed for the priests of Science and their temple congregations
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Yes - it was an interesting comment -
we make new particles & then say we've discovered them.
it's not very satisfying to me.