https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Deeropexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-17T10:55:23ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2214:_Chemistry_Nobel&diff=1811732214: Chemistry Nobel2019-10-12T01:07:44Z<p>Deerop: Initial text. Explained misconceptions about the periodic table -- please add more!</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2214<br />
| date = October 11, 2019<br />
| title = Chemistry Nobel<br />
| image = chemistry nobel.png<br />
| titletext = Most chemists thought the lanthanides and actinides could be inserted in the sixth and seventh rows, but no, they're just floating down at the bottom with lots more undiscovered elements all around them.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|created by a periodic table}}<br />
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This comic pokes fun at the misconception that the empty space created by the lower electron capacity of the first few orbitals (and thus a big gap is formed to abide with the higher capacities of the later shells) represent undiscovered elements, similar to the way the existing elements were discovered through unfilled gaps. However, the rectangle-like shaped of the periodic table is merely a graphical construct and therefore does not have anymore meaning than it was given. While undiscovered rows at the bottom of the table do represent more massive atoms (albeit unstable ones), missing columns do not signify atoms with more electrons in each orbital. The capacity of each shell is set by nature and is thus represented in the table.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:[Ponytail stands in front of a periodic table of the elements, holding a pointer, pointing to the "gap" at the top of the periodic table.]<br />
:Ponytail: I don't know why no one else thought to look here. <br />
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:[Caption below the panel]:<br />
:The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to the team that discovered the elements in the big gap at the top of the periodic table.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]</div>Deerop