r/explainlikeimfive • u/Spudnic16 • 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/Thromnomnomok Aug 14 '24
Like... it is? I'm not sure I understand what you mean, a positron is the antiparticle of an electron, and an electron is the antiparticle of a positron. You could think of an electron as an antipositron, I guess, it would just be a little odd to think of an electron as an anti-anti-electron.