Final answer:
Transuranium elements are created by bombarding target nuclei with particles like neutrons, resulting in new, heavier elements not found in nature.
Step-by-step explanation:
Transuranium elements are made in a lab by the artificial transmutation of lighter elements. This process involves bombarding target nuclei with particles, such as neutrons or other atomic nuclei. During the bombardment, the target nuclei capture the incoming particles, which leads to the formation of a heavier element that did not previously exist naturally.
For example, the first transuranium element, neptunium (Z = 93), was synthesized by bombarding uranium-238 with neutrons. This creates uranium-239, which undergoes beta decay to form neptunium-239. Similar methods are used to create other transuranium elements, with the most advanced involving collisions with more massive nuclei to create superheavy elements like element 114 and element 116.