Actually they do, but definitely not through our usual chemical reactions. The process is actually quite familiar to many of us. It's called nuclear reaction (because it causes change at the heart of the atoms, the nucleus).Given the same "logic" we can "make" new atoms as well.
There are 2 primary nuclear reactions, nuclear fission (splitting of the nucleus) and nuclear fusion (fusing particles to form a new nucleus). These reactions usually result in a large amount of energy being given off (hence nuclear bomb) mostly in the form of radiation.
Someone asked me about alpha, beta and gamma rays today (all 3 being forms of radiation). I apologise for being vague about beta radiation, cos beta decay is a little complicated. For that I did a websearch and found a pretty good site, for those who are interested in higher level stuff, please go here. For the unintiated it may be a little tough to understand, but it's interesting read outside the syllabus.
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