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I'll give you some points here. If you just treat $K_\alpha$-rays as a transition from principal number 2 to 1, $\Delta E \approx \frac{3}{4}Z^2$ Hartree, which has unit of keV when $Z>10$. Use characteristic Moseley's law, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moseley%27s_law setting $k_1, k_2$ appropriately and using $\Delta E = h \Delta f=hf_{\text ... 5 There are a bunch of things going on here: 1) The Coulomb repulsion between protons causes heavy nuclei to be unstable with regard to fission. The heaviest nuclei observed have$Z\simeq 118$, and are chracterized by extremely short life times. It might be possible to push the maximum Z a little further, but despite old dreams about islands of stability, ... 3 Counterexample: a neutron star is essentially an atomic nucleus with mass comparable to the mass of our solar system. Neutron stars are mostly neutrons but contain a non-negligible fraction (perhaps a few percent) of protons and electrons. For any reasonable estimate a neutron star contains more than 137 protons. Your logic based on speeds is flawed, but ... 3 It also appeared to me that the higher you go, the harder it is to make an element. This is pretty much true. I have a tendency to be wordy and long in my posts, but I'll try to cover a few points as concise as possible. Ununoctium was created by "bombarding atoms of californium-249 with ions of calcium-48. This produced ununoctium-294, an ... 3 It's not a game of chance. Selecting the right nuclides for the heavy ion collisions is key and the detection requires extremely sensitive and well calibrated detectors. If you want to put an attribute on it then "art" would be far more fitting. You are correct, it does get harder for heavier nuclei. Practical applications? That's not a question for science, ... 0 Found an interesting claim atthis guy's site. Keep in mind that he was a grad student at the time and that this answer is from 2001. Theory may have changed. Quoting part of his answer, Yes, there is a maximum atomic number for a single atom. The reason comes from nuclear physics. A nucleus can have no more than 126 protons (and around 150 ... 2 Here's the deal: Atoms of a particular element are comprised of protons, neutrons, and electrons. The number of neutrons can vary among atoms of the same element (we call these different isotopes), and the number of electrons can also be different (we call these different ions). It is the number of protons, sometimes denotes with the symbol$Z\$, that ...