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XXIII.—The Number of the Elements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2012

N. Feather
N. Feather
Affiliation:
Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
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Summary

The development of the idea of the chemical element is traced from its early beginnings, and the importance for this development of the Newtonian concept of invariable mass is emphasised. The emergence of the nuclear atom model is outlined, and the discovery of the complex (isotopic) nature of the majority of known chemical elements is described. Nuclear charge (Z) and mass (A) numbers are defined. Previously recognised regularities concerning mass and charge numbers of existing stable species are shown to have exact counterparts in regularities relating to the degree of instability (as measured by the energy of disintegration) of β-active species (“naturally” and “artificially” radioactive species). Naturally occurring a-active species are regarded as the analogues of the stable species for charge numbers greater than 83, and for charge numbers both greater and less than this value the limitation to the number of stable or quasi-stable isotopes of a given element (limitation of A values for a given Z) is established as essentially a question of nuclear stability as against β-emission (positive and negative electron emission). Finally, reasons are given for supposing that the number of possible chemical elements is limited (limitation to Z in the direction of Z increasing) by the susceptibility to spontaneous nuclear fission of species of sufficiently high nuclear charge.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Section A: Mathematics , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , 1946 , pp. 211 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1946

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References

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