system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are new elements discovered/created?

I understand that new elements occur with new numbers of protons, but how are these "discovered" or produced in labs?
gpt
They take two smaller atoms and smash them together.  If they can do it with just enough force and hit it in just the right way, then the two atoms will overcome the electromagnetic force, and the strong nuclear force will takeover, and bind all the protons and neutrons into a new nucleus.  So if you take a titanium atom (22 protons) and smash it into a berkelium atom (97 protons) you can end up with a new atom of 119 protons.  The new atoms tend to be highly unstable and often only last a fraction of a second, so detecting them is a lot trickier, what they often do is look at what types of decay the elements underwent (alpha, beta), and verifying those observations against what the math is telling us should happen, and what previous chemistry experiments have taught us.   But once one groups discovers a new element they will need their worked verified by an independent group of scientists to confirm if the results are real or not.