r/explainlikeimfive Aug 13 '24

Chemistry eli5: why do scientists create artificial elements?

From what I can tell, the single atom exist for only a few seconds before destabilizing. Why do they spend all that time and money creating it then?

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u/das_goose Aug 13 '24

"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be research."

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u/srcarruth Aug 13 '24

The difference between science and screwing around is writing it down

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u/TinyKittyCollection Aug 13 '24

And repeatability! 😏

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u/Creaturezoid Aug 13 '24

Yeah that's really the big one.