I found this introduction to the elements, and a breakdown of the periodic table on Chem4Kids – lots more interesting stuff on their site.
As far as we know, there are only so many basic elements. Up to this point in time we have discovered/created over 100. While there may be more out there to discover, the basic elements remain the same. Iron (Fe) atoms found on Earth are identical to iron atoms found on meteorites. The iron atoms on Mars that make the soil red are the same too.
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Somebody should really post a link to the Elements Song.
Always loved chemistry. And physics. And while there will almost always be more elements out there to be discovered, just like some of the heaviest “man-made” elements, they are likely to be highly unstable – so you will never see them in your chemistry set.
Still – wouldn’t it be fun if there was a new stable element discovered?
Just to clarify, there are almost certainly no more elements out there to discover. Elements are made through a process called nucleosynthesis in stars and novae. And the manmade elements are, in fact getting more stable. Like electrons, neutrons and protons have stable shell closures called ‘magic numbers’. There is an island of stability in the neighborhood of element 114 which can not be reached through naural processes.
I’m like Comic book guy meet chemistry nerd