An Elementary End of the Periodic Table

Abstract

Using the Planck scale as an absolute bound of half-life, we give a quick estimate, in the manner of Feynman's fine-structure method, of the highest possible atomic number. We find, upon simple extrapolation, that element 168 would constitute the end of the Periodic Table and its isotope with atomic weight 411, being the most stable. These are remarkably close to current best estimates obtained from sophisticated and much more involved Hartree-Fock calculations.