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I have been researching for a Physics/Chemistry exam and thought; what will the future periods in the periodic table (periods 8 and above) would entail? Each block contains its own properties that allow for accurate predictions of elements in these blocks. Each block has very unique properties and benefits society in major ways. The g-block is the theoretical block thought to exist in period-8 though no elements have been produced in this period for any sustained time. My question is:

What are the predicted properties of the G-block if any? Who and what methods have they been predicted by?

I'd also like to know if there are any ways of "stabilizing" these elements so that they take more time to decay.

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migrated from physics.stackexchange.com Dec 17 '12 at 5:35


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First of all, from the perspective of chemistry, it is the group (column) that matters more than the period (row), and subshells act at the period level. Second, the elements beyond the actinides have virtually no significant chemical research owing to their extreme radioactivity. So there may not be many predicted properties for the g-block beyond the simplistic theoretical assumptions about groups, which are much less relevant for a hyper transitional period like the g-block.

As for you question about potential stability, Glenn Seaborg made some predictions here, which you can read that this Wikipedia page: Island of Stability. In general, though, these elements are not predicted to be stable.

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It is the group that matters, however the f-block elements, particularly the lanthanide series, do have a lot of similarities to each other as the whole f-block is technically part of Group 3 (or IIIB if you prefer). –  Ben Norris Dec 18 '12 at 11:51
@Ben Norris: Yes, glad you added this. That's what I was getting at (badly) in the last sentence of the first paragraph. –  trb456 Dec 18 '12 at 12:04

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