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The first synthetic element created was Technetium . This discovery filled a gap in the Periodic Table , and the fact that no Stable Isotopes of technetium exist explains its natural absence on Earth (and the gap). With a 4.2 Million Year half-life, no technetium remains from the formation of the Earth. Only minute traces of technetium occur naturally in the Earth's crust (as a spontaneous Fission product of uranium-238 or by neutron capture in Molybdenum ores), but technetium is found naturally in Red Giant stars.

Atomic Mass for natural elements is based on weighted average abundance of natural isotopes occurring in the Earth's crust and atmosphere. For synthetic elements the isotope formed depends on the means of synthesis, so the concept of natural isotope abundance has no meaning. Therefore for synthetic elements the total Nucleon (protons plus neutrons) count of the most stable isotope (ie, the isotope with the longest Half-life ) is listed in brackets as the atomic mass.

quasi-synthetic elements include:




Provisional names for recently observed synthetic elements:

Provisional name for the synthetic element not yet proven to exist: