The basic premise of creating new elements is that two elements are fired at each other and this is done in such a way so that they stick together. This is done in a machine called a particle accelerator.
This is an example of a particle acclerator, as you can see, these are by no means small. However, the area inside down which the particles travel is very t iny indeed. They are fired down this line and when they collide, join together making a larger element out of parts of the two. This is not always successful so it often takes a large amount of time and patience to achieve a result. The expence involved is also quite high.
A large element, usually radioactive (this is not necessary but larger element s are more unstable), and a smaller element are fired at each other and collide a great deal of speed and energy. The resulting element is generally rather uns table and has a very short half-life. This means that observing the atom is very difficult. This also means verifying results may take years. This is done by the IUPAC, who are responsible for the naming of new elements.
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