<story><title>Copernicium Is a Strange Element Indeed</title><url>https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2019/10/11/copernicium-is-a-strange-element-indeed</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>mcguire</author><text>Today&amp;#x27;s burying the lede award:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;But the bigger effect is relativistic. That’s actually a notable example of Paul Dirac being completely wrong about something in physics – he had stated back in 1929 (PDF here if you’re up for it!) that relativistic corrections to quantum mechanics were of “no importance” because they would apply only to very high-speed particles (that is, those moving at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light). But as it turns out, the inner electrons of the heavier elements are moving at such speeds (they get faster as the positively charged nucleus gets bigger and more charged), and this has effects out to the chemically important outer electrons as well. For one thing, relativistic particles are heavier, and this actually shrinks the atomic radius of the heavier elements still more and has complex effects on the various orbitals.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Copernicium Is a Strange Element Indeed</title><url>https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2019/10/11/copernicium-is-a-strange-element-indeed</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>ratbeard</author><text>Pre dece comment explaining some deets why quantum mechanics and general relativity seem incompatible:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blogs.sciencemag.org&amp;#x2F;pipeline&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;copernicium-is-a-strange-element-indeed#comment-309333&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blogs.sciencemag.org&amp;#x2F;pipeline&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;co...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>