On a related topic, there is an interesting star that seemingly contains spectral lines of some elements with high atomic number, but the details of this are controversial:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przybylski%27s_Star
As a historical note, Helium was first discovered in the 1800's from its lines in the solar spectrum, and the name assigned to it was derived from the Greek sun-God Helios.
"heaviest" is also an ambiguous term -- weight depends on gravitational acceleration of course, while mass does not. There is also a concept of frame dependent "relativistic mass" which is sometimes used instead of rest mass. And naturally, any unstable system has a mass uncertainty due its decay width.
Also a fun fact, there are elements of lower atomic number such as argon, which is heavier (based on naturally abundant species) than potassium which has a higher atomic number.
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On a related topic, there is an interesting star that seemingly contains spectral lines of some elements with high atomic number, but the details of this are controversial:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przybylski%27s_Star
As a historical note, Helium was first discovered in the 1800's from its lines in the solar spectrum, and the name assigned to it was derived from the Greek sun-God Helios.
"heaviest" is also an ambiguous term -- weight depends on gravitational acceleration of course, while mass does not. There is also a concept of frame dependent "relativistic mass" which is sometimes used instead of rest mass. And naturally, any unstable system has a mass uncertainty due its decay width.
Mass in general relativity is also subtle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_in_general_relativity
Also a fun fact, there are elements of lower atomic number such as argon, which is heavier (based on naturally abundant species) than potassium which has a higher atomic number.
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